NaMo TV not on I and B's channels list, it was 'platform service' offered by DTH operators: Govt

NaMo TV is not on Ministry of Information and Broadcasting's list of channels as it was a "platform service" offered by DTH operators to its subscribers, the government informed Rajya Sabha on Monday.

NaMo TV, a BJP-sponsored channel that publicised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rallies and other poll messages, had gone off air last month after the Lok Sabha polls.

In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said, "The 'NaMo TV' is not listed in the list of channels of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting as it was a 'Platform Service' offered by DTH operators to its subscribers."

The channel was mired in controversy ever since it went on air.

The chief electoral officer of Delhi had sent a notice to the BJP for "airing election-related content" on NaMo TV even after the silence period began, but the party had said they did not violate the Model Code of Conduct.

In April, after the Election Commission had directed that all recorded programmes displayed on NaMo TV be pre-certified, the Delhi poll body asked the BJP not to air any content on the platform without its certification.

The chief electoral office in Delhi had also said that since NaMo TV was sponsored by the BJP, all recorded programmes displayed on the platform be pre-certified by media certification and monitoring committee of Delhi and all political publicity contents displayed without pre-certification be removed immediately.

The commission had issued a notice seeking a report from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry on NaMo TV, launched just weeks ahead of the general election, after opposition parties, including the Congress, asked the poll body to direct the ministry to suspend the channel in violation of the poll code.