A brief note on the Draft Telecommunications (Television, Radio and Associated Services) Rules, 2026

Introduction

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on June 12, 2026 introduced the draft Telecommunications (Television, Radio and Associated Services) Rules, 2026 (“Draft Rules”) to consolidate the guidelines issued for television and radio services under the now replaced Telegraph Act, 1885, within the framework of the newly enacted Telecommunications Act, 2023 (“Act”). The Act was passed by the Parliament in the year 2023 to replace the Telegraph Act of 1885.

The new Draft Rules combine six older, separate guidelines into one single, simplified rulebook. This includes older policies for satellite TV channels, Direct-to-Home satellite television, Headend-in-the-Sky cable network systems, private FM radio, community radio, and Internet Protocol Television. More specifically,

1. Policy Guidelines for Uplinking and Downlinking of Satellite Television Channels in India, dated 9 November 2022;
2. Guidelines for obtaining a license to provide Direct-to-Home (DTH) Broadcasting Services in India, dated 15th March 2001, as amended from time to time;
3. Guidelines for providing Headend-in-the-Sky (HITS) Broadcasting Services in India, dated 26th November 2009;
4. Policy Guidelines on Expansion of FM Radio Broadcasting Services through Private Agencies (Phase III), dated 25th July 2011, as amended up to 10th September 2024;
5. Revised Policy Guidelines for setting up Community Radio Stations in India, dated 13th February 2024; and
6. Guidelines for provisioning of Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) Services, dated the 8th September 2008.

The main goal of the Draft Rules is to “simplify and harmonize the existing regime while promoting ease of doing business in the television and radio broadcasting sector”, as clarified under the Press Release for the “Draft Telecommunication Rules Related to Television, Radio and Associated Services Published for Public Consultation” of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of June 12, 2026.[i]

The public and industry experts have been given until July 27, 2026, to send in their thoughts and suggestions before these Draft Rules become official.

Telecommunications Act, 2023

The Draft Rules derive their legal authority from the Telecommunications Act, 2023, which was passed by Parliament as Act No. 44 of 2023 and received presidential assent on December 24, 2023. The Act is the foundational legislation that repeals and replaces both the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, and the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933, bringing India’s telecommunications law into alignment with modern realities.

One of the most significant conceptual changes introduced by the parent Act is the shift from the old system of “licences” to a new system of “authorisations.” Under Section 3 of the Act, any person intending to provide telecommunication services, establish or operate a telecommunication network, or possess radio equipment must obtain an authorisation from the Central Government on such terms and conditions, including fees or charges, as may be prescribed. The Act explicitly provides that existing licences, registrations, and permissions granted under the old laws continue to be valid, either for their remaining duration or for a period of five years from the appointed day, after which holders may migrate to the new authorisation framework.

Under the various Sections of this Act, the rules were to be drafted in order to clarify certain aspects of the Act, taking one example could be, the measures to protect and ensure cyber security of telecommunication networks and telecommunication services, as provided under Section 22 of the Act. Therefore, the Draft Rules were drafted circulated for stakeholder consultation. We will be going through the Draft Rules and the key pointers therein going forward.

The Telecommunication Rules, 2026

Chapter 1 – Applicability:

As per Rule 3 of Chapter 1, the Draft Rules apply to any person seeking to obtain, or already holding, any of the types of authorisations specified in Chapter 2, such as a television channel, television channel distribution services, news agency for television, private radio service, or community radio service. However, the Draft Rules do not apply in respect of television, radio, and associated services provided by entities listed in Schedule 1.

Rule 4 provides for the government setting up online digital portals for the implementation of these rules, including for the publication of relevant forms, directions, and guidelines.

Chapter 2 – Types of Authorizations:

Television Channels – Rule 5 provides that a television channel authorisation covers a news channel or a non-news channel, transmitted through either a satellite or a terrestrial medium. An applicant must be:

• a company or a Limited Liability Partnership;
  • It must comply with applicable foreign investment requirements;
    • It must meet the minimum net worth requirement specified in Schedule 2;
      • The applicant must hold a registered trademark or a valid no-objection certificate from the registered trademark owner in respect of the channel name and logo;
      • where a television channel is not originating from the territory of India, ensure compliance with applicable law of the country of origin; and
      • must have exclusive marketing and distribution rights over the channel including advertising and subscription revenue.

Rule 6 – Television Channel Distribution Service – Two categories of distribution service are covered under this Rule, a Direct-to-Home service and a Headend-in-the-Sky service, where only companies can apply. Further minimum requirements are covered for the same under this Rule.

Rule 8 – Teleport – An applicant seeking authorisation for teleport shall be a company or LLP.

Rule 8 – News Agency for Television – Authorises agencies that gather news and supply it to television news channels or to other television news agencies. The applicant must be a company or LLP holding accreditation issued by the Press Information Bureau and ensure compliance with foreign investment requirements under applicable law.

Rule 9 – Private Radio Service – Provides that the Central Government shall conduct an auction before granting authorisation for a private radio service. An applicant must be a company only and comply with applicable foreign investment, net worth, and security requirements. The applicant must be Indian-owned and controlled, must not be associated with any trust, non-profit organisation, religious body, political body or advertising agency, and must not have ownership, control or affiliation with another authorised private radio service entity in the same service area. It is important to note that a restriction is placed wherein an authorised entity may operate not more than 40% of the total channels in a city, subject to a minimum of three authorised entities in that city.

Rule 10 – Community Radio Service – Provides that authorisation for a community radio service shall be granted on a first-come-first-served basis. Eligible applicants include Section 8 companies, charitable societies, public charitable trusts, Krishi Vigyan Kendras, self-help groups, farmer producer organisations, and government-established or recognised institutions. Applicants must be non-profit entities, not operate principally for religious or political purposes, comply with applicable foreign investment, foreign contribution and security requirements, and must have been engaged in community development activities in the relevant geographical area for at least three years prior to the application. An applicant may seek authorisation in multiple service areas, subject to the prescribed conditions, but may not hold more than six community radio service authorisations.

Chapter 3 – Application, Grant and Renewal of Authorisation

Chapter 3 lays down the process for obtaining, granting, renewing and migrating authorisations.

Application: Applicants must submit an application with the prescribed fee, organisational details and information required for security clearance. Applications are scrutinised by the Central Government, which may seek additional information, obtain security and site-related clearances, and issue a Letter of Intent (LOI) specifying applicable fees and payment timelines. Failure to comply with the LOI results in rejection of the application.

Validity: Authorisations are granted through a designated portal and specify the scope, service area, validity period and effective date.

• Television channels, teleports and community radio services are authorised for 10 years;
  • News agencies for television for 10 years from the date of authorisation;
    • Television channel distribution services for 20 years; and
      • Private radio services for 15 years.

Renewal: An application for renewal must be submitted at least 120 days before expiry of the authorisation. Renewal is subject to compliance with applicable laws, security clearances and authorisation conditions. Renewed authorisations are valid for 10 years, except private radio services, which are not eligible for renewal.

Migration: Migration of certain existing licences, registrations and permissions from the old regime to the new authorisation regime is permitted, subject to payment of outstanding dues and compliance with the prescribed process. However, existing FM radio permissions are excluded from the migration framework and continue to be governed by their existing terms and conditions.

Chapter 4 – General Terms and Conditions

Rule 16 requires every authorised entity to:

• continue to comply with the eligibility and authorisation requirements prescribed under Chapter 2 of the Draft Rules and maintain all required clearances throughout the validity period of the authorisation;
• comply with all applicable laws, including the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 and the rules made thereunder;
• comply with the applicable programme code and advertising code. For television channels and television channel distribution services, these are the codes prescribed under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995. For private radio services and community radio services, the applicable code is the code followed by Akashwani or any other code specified by the Central Government from time to time;
• comply with any directions or guidelines issued by the Central Government from time to time; and
• not sub-let, sub-lease or assign its authorisation.

Note: The Programme Code and Advertising Code applicable to television channels and television channel distribution services are those prescribed under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995. Broadly, the Programme Code regulates the content of programmes that may be broadcast, while the Advertising Code governs the manner and content of advertisements. Please note that the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act of 1995 may be replaced by the draft Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, upon finalization and passing of the bill in the Parliament.

Rule 17 – Use of Broadcasting Network – An authorized entity may use its own broadcasting network or enter into an arrangement to share the broadcasting network of another authorized entity. However, each authorized entity remains jointly and severally responsible for compliance with the terms and conditions of its authorization.

Rule 18 – Assignment and Use of Spectrum – The grant of an authorisation does not automatically confer any right to use spectrum under the Draft Rules. Where spectrum assignment is required under the Act, the authorised entity must apply for assignment of spectrum within 30 days of obtaining the authorisation.

Rule 19 – Security Conditions – Under this Rule:

• the authorised entity, its key managerial personnel and governing body members to remain security-cleared throughout the validity of the authorisation;
• prior security clearance for any proposed key managerial personnel;
• news channels, news agencies for television, television channel distribution services and private radio services to ensure that a majority of their directors, partners and key managerial personnel are resident in India; and
• foreign personnel engaged for the installation, maintenance or operation of broadcasting networks to obtain prior security clearance from the Central Government before deployment.

Note: The portions in bold do raise some concerns, more on this below in the Conclusion & Analysis.

Rule 20 – Assessment and Payment of Authorisation Fee – Authorised entities are required to pay the applicable authorisation fee and maintain separate financial accounts for each authorisation held. The Central Government may assess and audit the revenue declarations of authorised entities, including through audits conducted by the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India or other auditors.

Rule 21 – Monitoring and Inspection – Authorised entities must preserve recordings of all programmes, including advertisements, for at least 90 days from the date of broadcast and produce such recordings when required by the Central Government. Where any complaint, dispute, inquiry or legal proceeding is pending, the recordings must be preserved until the matter is finally concluded. The Central Government may also conduct inspections of premises, broadcasting equipment, recordings and broadcasting networks, with or without prior notice in appropriate cases.

Rule 22 – Reporting Requirements – Authorised entities must notify the Central Government of specified changes, including changes in shareholding, partnership structure, foreign investment, name, ownership, control, address and other material particulars, within the prescribed timelines. Any change in ownership resulting in a change of control or complete change in management requires the prior written approval of the Central Government.

Note: The portions in bold under Rule 21 and 22 raises some concerns, more on this below in the Conclusion & Analysis.

Rule 23 – Use of Satellite Transmission Medium – Rule 23 prescribes conditions relating to the use of satellite capacity and reporting obligations in relation to satellite transmission arrangements.

Rule 24 – Conditions for Use of DSNG – Rule 24 sets out the eligibility criteria, operational conditions and compliance requirements for the use of Digital Satellite News Gathering (DSNG) equipment, including record-keeping, registration, security and transmission requirements.

Rule 25 – Force Majeure – Rule 25 provides that an authorised entity will not be treated as being in breach of its authorisation obligations where performance is prevented or delayed due to specified force majeure events, provided the prescribed notification requirements are complied with. However, force majeure does not extend the validity period of the authorisation, although the Central Government may permit deferment of authorisation fee payments in appropriate cases. The expression “force majeure event” is defined as limited to the following events under the Draft Rules: (a) war or hostilities; (b) major riots or civil commotion; (c) earthquake, flood, tempest, lightning or other natural disasters; or (d) any other event which the Central Government may notify to be a force majeure event.

Note: A clause generally inserted in contracts is a part of the statute now. However, the definition which includes any force majeure event that the Central Government may notify, this may lead to introduction of events which are not generally considered as force majeure, considering that there is no qualifier inserted as to what can be added as a force majeure event by the Central Government.

Chapter 5 – Service Specific Terms and Conditions

Chapter 5 prescribes service-specific operational, content, reporting and financial obligations for each category of authorised entity, including television channels, television channel distribution services, teleports, private radio services and community radio services.

• Part A – Television Channel: Television channels must commence operations within one year of spectrum assignment, remain continuously operational, and may face deemed withdrawal of authorization if they remain non-operational for more than 90 continuous days. They are also required to broadcast at least 30 minutes of public interest content daily.

• Part B – Television Channel Distribution Service: Distribution service providers must commence operations within one year of spectrum assignment, remain operational throughout the authorisation period, retransmit only authorised channels, and comply with mandatory carriage and encryption requirements. IPTV providers are additionally required to retain programme recordings for 90 days.

• Part C – Teleport: Teleport operators must commence operations within one year of spectrum assignment, remain operational throughout the authorisation period, and may uplink only authorised television channels.

• Part D – Private Radio Service: Private radio services must commence operations within 24 months of the Letter of Intent, operate on a free-to-air basis, broadcast at least one hour of public interest content daily, ensure that at least 20% of daily broadcast content is local content, and cannot remain closed for more than 180 days.

• Part E – Community Radio Service: Community radio services must commence operations within one year of spectrum assignment, operate for at least two hours per day, function on a free-to-air basis, establish an Advisory and Content Committee with at least 50% women members, and may carry advertisements for a maximum of 12 minutes per hour.

Chapter 6 – Transfer of Authorisation

Chapter 6 governs the transfer of authorisations. Television channels, teleports and private radio services may be transferred only with the prior approval of the Central Government and only after the expiry of the applicable lock-in period (i.e., 1 year for television channels and teleports, and 3 years for private radio services). Transfers are permitted only in specified circumstances, including mergers, demergers, amalgamations, transfer of business undertakings and intra-group transfers, subject to the transferee entity meeting the prescribed eligibility, net worth and security clearance requirements and undertaking to comply with the authorisation conditions. Authorisations for television channel distribution services, news agencies for television and community radio services are not transferable.

Chapter 7 – Adjudication and Appeals

As per Rule 48, the breach of the terms and conditions of authorization by an authorized entity shall be considered as a breach of Section 32 of the Act (Breach of Terms and Conditions of Authorization or Assignment). According to Section 32, the Adjudicating Officer can pass an order in writing in respect of one or both of the following, namely: (i) direct such authorized entity, or assignee to do or abstain from doing any act or thing to prevent such breach or for such compliance; (ii) impose civil penalties as specified in the Second Schedule; and (b) make recommendations for the consideration of the Central Government regarding suspension, revocation, or curtailment of the duration of the authorization or assignment.

As per Rule 51, the Central Government may appoint an Adjudicating Officer to conduct inquiries into alleged breaches. The process generally involves issuance of a show-cause notice, submission of a written response by the concerned entity, and an opportunity of hearing before any order is passed. The Draft Rules contemplate that inquiries should ordinarily be concluded within six months.

Any person aggrieved by an order of the Adjudicating Officer may file an appeal before a Designated Appeals Committee within 30 days of receipt of the order, upon payment of the prescribed fee. The Appeals Committee may confirm, modify or set aside the impugned order and is expected to dispose of appeals within six months.

Chapter 8 – Miscellaneous

Chapter 8 deals with surrender, suspension, revocation and termination of authorizations, as well as certain special provisions relating to broadcasting services.

Rule 58 – Surrender of Authorization: An authorized entity may voluntarily surrender its authorization by applying at least 60 days in advance, after clearing all outstanding dues and providing prior notice to users and affected parties. The Central Government may either accept or reject the application with reasons to be recorded in writing. Upon acceptance, the security deposit may be refunded after adjustment of any pending dues.

Rules 59 and 60 – Suspension, Curtailment and Revocation: The Central Government may suspend, curtail, revoke or otherwise terminate an authorization for violations, false representations, or where the authorised entity is wound up or placed in liquidation. Such action is generally preceded by an opportunity of hearing and becomes effective after the prescribed notice period. While security deposits may be refunded subject to adjustment of dues, other fees are generally non-refundable.

Rule 61 – Broadcasting through Prasar Bharati: The Central Government, State Governments, local authorities and their affiliated bodies shall provide broadcasting services only through Prasar Bharati, except in the case of community radio services, which may be operated upon obtaining the requisite authorization.

Conclusion & Analysis

The Draft Rules seek to clarify certain aspects and give more clarity to the existing regulatory framework through defined timelines, renewal processes, migration provisions, adjudication mechanisms and other terms. The Draft Rules also provide safeguards in several instances by requiring a notice, an opportunity of hearing, and written reasons for adverse decisions and other appellate remedies.

However, the Draft Rules confer significant powers on the Central Government. The requirement for security clearance throughout the validity of the authorisation, coupled with the absence of detailed procedural safeguards governing grant or withdrawal of such clearance within the Draft Rules themselves, may be an area of concern for various entities and broadcasters. A situation where the security clearance is only given in exchange of certain benefit or we could say in a more extreme sense, in exchange of a “bribe”, could become close to real, since there are no specific laid out structure as to how and on what grounds such security clearance would be given.

Similarly, the power to conduct inspections without prior notice may become a challenge, since the Central Government has substantial powers to continue inspections without any prior notice, thereby posing a practical as well as reputational challenge to various broadcasters, and this may also lead to a lack of transparency. Further, prior governmental approval for changes in control could be challenging with possibility of the Central Government favouring one entity over another, while it may also be useful in order to assess compliance with the Competition Act and other such regulatory requirements. The Draft Rules also impose extensive compliance obligations, including reporting requirements, record retention obligations, content regulation compliance and restrictions on ownership structures and transfers.

Therefore, while the Draft Rules simplify and consolidate the regulatory framework, industry stakeholders may seek greater clarity, procedural safeguards and checks on discretionary powers, particularly in relation to security clearances, enforcement actions and regulatory approvals.

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[i] https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2271983&reg=3&lang=1.

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