In accordance with the section 34 of the Bhutan Information, Communications and Media Act 2006 and section 5.1 of the Rules for Operation of Commercial Cable Television in the Kingdom of Bhutan, the Authority hereby issues the directive on the Local Origination Channel.
This directive issued as an interim measure, shall be in force till the status of cable television along with a concrete modality on their operation including broadcasting rights have been reviewed and approved by the Authority. As per this directive, the following types of content on meeting the criteria and conditions as specified under shall be allowed to be aired on cable television channel.
- Trailers of films
Only trailers of certified films are allowed to be aired on the local channel which shall be limited to five times in a day for each film trailer. Film trailers should be distributed evenly in the morning, afternoon and evening and shall not exceed 2 hours in a day.
- Announcements (excluding programmes)
Announcements may be divided into 3 categories:
- Announcements from Government agencies (Ministries, Autonomous agencies, Thromdes, Dzongkhags and Judiciary) to notify the general public can be shown without approval from the Authority.
- Announcements from all other agencies (private enterprises, corporations, shops, individuals, financial institutes, external agencies, consultancy firms and other non-governmental organizations) must be pre-viewed and approved by the Authority.
- Announcements in the form of notifications in public interest can be shown at any time in times of emergencies on a real time basis and should be aired free of charge.
- Programmes
All programmes produced by Government agencies, corporate bodies, individuals, external agencies and other non-governmental bodies irrespective of educational and social benefit of the programmes have to be pre-viewed and approved by the Authority.
- Advertisements
Local advertisements can be allowed only after the content has been pre-viewed and approved by the Authority
- School concerts
Local school concerts shall be shown in the local TV channel upon fulfilling the following requirements and subject to final approval by the Authority.
- Showing the same content throughout the day is monotonous and annoying and as such only two hours in a day shall be allocated to airing of school concerts. These two hours shall be from 11 A.M to 12 A.M in the morning and from 6 P.M to 7 P.M in the evening.
- Approval letter from the concerned school Authority stating that the school authority has no objection in the concert being aired on the local channel has to be obtained. This letter, which has to be submitted to the Authority along with the programme to be pre-viewed should be displayed for at least 5 seconds before the airing of the respective school concerts.
- The final approval for the schools concert to be aired has to be issued by the Authority.
- General criteria
- As responsible service providers, all licensees must promote programmes that showcase our tradition, culture and values of Gross National Happiness. As such programmes using our national attire and national language should be encouraged.
- Limit programmes that showcase prolonged use of foreign outfits and language.
- Air programmes that has educational & social messages and would benefit the general population including children and youth.
- Requirement
All cable operators are required to submit a six monthly report to the Authority on the number and type of programmes including number of advertisements that have been shown on the local channel.
In order to make best use of the Local Origination Channel, the Authority solicits full support from the licensed cable operators in the implementation and adherence to the directive.