The Indian Government’s decision to yank the AXN channel off air on the rounds of airing “indecent” content has highlighted several complex issues confronting the media industry in the world’s largest democracy. The ban on AXN for two months, until mid-March, has prompted several questions: What right do the authorities have to pull channels off air? Is there enough clarity in the guidelines governing broadcasters? Can broadcasters come up with their own guidelines for self-regulation? The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) of India took drastic decision because it felt World’s Sexiest Commercials was “against good taste or decency and likely to adversely affect public morality.” In response, the channel’s owner Sony Pictures Television International stated: “We acknowledge that the MIB’s ban of the distribution of AXN in India on 17 January 2007 is based on programmes and advertisements that had been previously exhibited on AXN in India. We understand that the ban imposed by the MIB against AXN is based upon legal procedures contained in India’s Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995.”
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