NEW DELHI: It?s a strong rap on the knuckles for sure. Two channels Comedy Central - a part of the Network18 group - and Manoranjan TV - have been pulled off the air waves following an order from the Indian ministry of information & broadcasting (I&B). Their crime: they allegedly screened inappropriate content on their channels.

Comedy Central, the I&B ministry says, telecast a raunchy comedy show called "Stand Up Club" at 20:52 hours on 26 May last year and a show called "PopCorn" on 4 July at 7:57 pm. Manoranjan TV, on its part, aired a film with an adult certificate "Ek Chatur Naar" in the afternoon on 11 February last year. While the former has been punished wih a black out order for 10 days commencing 00.01 hrs 25 May, the latter will not be visible for a week beginning 00.01 hrs 25 May 2013. This is happening at a time when the government says it wants to give self-regulation of media a chance.

Thus Comedy Central will remian off air till 00:01 hrs on 4 June while Manoranjan TV will not be transmitted till 00.01 hrs on 1 June.

While the Viacom18 company spokesperson for Comedy Central said: "Since the matter is sub-judice, we cannot comment",the Delhi high court upheld the I&B?s decision to cut the transmission of Comedy Central for airing "obscene" dialogues and "vulgar" words besides being derogatory to women.

Dismissing a plea of Viacom 18 Media against the government?s decision, Justice VK Jain said the penalty prohibiting telecast of the channel for 10 days cannot be termed as "excessive, harsh or unreasonable."

"Considering that the penalty could be the prohibition of telecast up to 30 days for the first violation and upto 90 days in case of the second violation, the penalty imposed on the channel cannot be said to be execessive or unreasonable. Even if one were to exclude the second violation i.e. telecast of the programme "PopCorn" from consideration, the penalty prohibiting the telecast for 10 days for the first violation alone cannot be said to be excessive, harsh or unreasonable," the court said referring to the policy guidelines for uplinking of TV channels from India.

The court said a persual of the impugned order would show that the CD recording of the offending programmes was previewed by the inter-ministerial committee which found it very offensive, crossing all limitations of good taste and decency.

The court accepted the additional solicitor general AS Chandhiok?s argument that under section 20 of the Cable Television Netowrks (Regulation) Act 1995, the government, in the interest of public order, deceny or morality can regulate transmission or retransmission of any programme or channel.

The order says the show on Comedy Central which had ?obscene dialogues and vulgar words derogatory of women and hence appeared to offend good taste and decency. The portrayal in the programme did not appear suitable for unrestricted public exhibition and children.?

The I&B?s inter-ministerial committee felt in the case of Manoranjan TV that this was a gross violation of the programme code and the argument of the channel that it happened due to a mistake on part of their staff cannot be accepted. Being a responsible TV channel, it should have put in place appropriate system to avoid such mistakes.

The orders in both cases have been issued under section 20(2) and (3) of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 and paras 8.1 and 8.2 of the Guidelines for Uplinking from India.

In what is clearly hardening of stand, the I&B?s inter-ministerial committee has penalised five channels in the months of April and May for violation of the programme and advertising codes.

Since one channel, Movies OK, obtained a stay order on the grounds that it had been served the notice too late, the ministry took precaution and had issued the penalty notices to both Comedy Central and Manoranjan TV on 17 May. The other channels penalised were Mahuaa and AXN.

The I&B?s inter-ministerial committee had issued show cause notices to both Comedy Central and Manoranjan channels and also gave them an opportunity to make their representations.

Meanwhile, there was no response from Manoranjan TV despite repeated attempts.

Says a media observer: "The government?s decision is sure to upset the broadcast sector.Despite having a self-regulatory mechanism in place and their individudal standards & practices departments which scrutinises every show and script,they don?t seem to be able to understand what the government could label as offensive. Even humour is now being taken as offensive. We as a nation don?t know how to laugh at ourselves and it clearly shows with the humourless decision."

MUMBAI: Network18 Group has appointed Ajay Chacko as chief operating officer.

This appointment is aligned with the group?s plan to strengthen its central management structure aimed at accelerating growth and furthering synergies between businesses.

Chacko has been with the group for over nine years and is presently president of A+E Networks | TV18, the JV between A+E Networks, US and TV18. He will currently continue to hold responsibility for the venture.

In his new role, Chacko will actively support management teams and leaders across functions in leveraging the network?s diverse strengths, be responsible for creation and management of network-wide properties and institutionalize processes and models that unleash value across the group and its ventures.

He is also mandated with strengthening the business planning and monitoring processes as well as other critical support and staff functions across the group. Additionally, he has been entrusted with the role of being the custodian of ?Brand Network18?.

Network18 founder and editor Raghav Bahl said, "The dynamic nature of the media landscape in India today has necessitated the need to continuously evolve our internal operating environment to align with these changes. We have now embarked on a path of bringing together our various business units in order to successfully ride the opportunity wave and stay focused on returns to shareholders. In Ajay, we entrust the responsibility of strengthening our continued efforts to emerge as ?one? strong network. He has our best wishes and whole-hearted support."

Network18 group CEO B Sai Kumar added, "We?ve invested in and built a great set of brands across multiple platforms over the last decade. This network today, straddles broadcast, e-commerce, digital content and niche print businesses. In the next phase of Network18, we intend to consolidate the strengths of each of these businesses across the network, extract value through unrelenting focus on internal assets and thereby better our offerings to external constituencies all around. Ajay has been key to the success of some of these businesses and in this new role, he will bring his expertise, foresight, operational and people skills to achieve what we?ve set out to accomplish."

Commenting on his new role Chacko added "We have been seen to be a diverse and talented set of people running some of the country?s most successful media brands. I hope to be able to supplement Sai?s efforts to help strengthen the collaboration between our various business units and functions with a view to improve financially as well operationally and emerge stronger as one network."

In his earlier roles at Network18, Chacko has led many of the group?s businesses such as CNBC-TV18, CNBC Awaaz and Forbes India and has been instrumental in their ascendance as market leading media brands in the country. He has also led the group?s efforts in the business media domain as well as the successful launches of key digital properties of Network18.

He has been responsible for the functioning of the JV between A+E Networks & TV18, now a key player in the Indian factual entertainment space with HistoryTV18 emerging as a top tier brand in the genre. Prior to joining Network18, he worked in financial services and media for over a decade. His earlier stints were with IL&FS (Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services, India) and he has also been a part of the start-up team at Sharekhan. He started his career in the Indian Express Group where he worked in various capacities.