22 December 2020, Kathmandu
A lawsuit has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking to impose clean feed. This clean feed is to be imposed on television and video content broadcast on the Internet.
Advocate Bisheshwor Prasad Gautam has filed a case. He has demanded to stop all the foreign channels and video applications that are working against the Advertising Regulation Act and the National Broadcasting Rules.
We all know that our government is working to implement a clean feed policy targeting foreign television channels. However, this policy is not being fully implemented. They are still working on it.
The writ petition seeks to stop such activities by downloading various apps on Android and iOS. Also broadcasting television channels through online media and OTT should be stopped.
After the introduction of clean feed in Nepal, cable TV operators have been demanding the closure of IP TV. The clean feed has been implemented in Nepal since last Kartik 7.
Dhruv Sharma, President of the Federation of Cable TV Entrepreneurs, said, “Rule 5 (b) of the National Broadcasting Rules, 2052 BS has made it mandatory to obtain permission for signal distribution. Television broadcasters and distributors are two different things. IPTV has been working without deposing the license fee for signal distribution.”
There are many apps distributing video content illegally. They are making billions of rupees and taking them abroad. Our government is unable to collect a penny from that revenue.
Such types of video apps are registered in foreign countries. They are doing their business in Nepal too. Nepal Government has been unable to regulate them to collect taxes.
There should be necessary laws and rules to regulate these OTTP apps. OTTP apps like Netflix, iFlix, and Amazon Prime Video are increasing their customers in Nepal. So, it seems like millions of rupees will be leaving Nepal in the coming days too.