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Govt considering ban on F-TV: Swaraj

"It (F-TV) does not synchronise with our culture. I am getting it monitored for a week. After that we will show (highlights) to the Parliamentary Consultative Committee so that a joint decision can be taken," Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj said.

Saying that the Consultative Committee has representatives of various political parties, she felt any decision of the committee could be one of consensus.

TB6, a Russian channel, which aired pornographic programmes late at night, was banned during Arun Jaitley's tenure as I&B minister.

Rejecting a suggestion that there was a need to do away with censorship of films in the changed scenario, she said, "In fact, there have been demands to make censorship more stringent" as there were many complaints about the way violence and sex were depicted in films.

She made it clear that even with Direct-to-Home and Conditional Access System, which will give viewers the choice of channels, there would be a need for regulation of television programmes to curb obscenity and violence.

On the spurt of 'fun talk' advertisements, Swaraj, who had also been Communication Minister earlier, favoured jamming of telephone lines by BSNL. She said this method was the most effective to curb such calls.

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