Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2020-03-04

Regulation of the Issuance of Television and Broadcasting Licenses -

- Presently, license are issued for private broadcasting and telecasting in accordance with the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Act, No.37 of 1966 and the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation Act, No.06 of 1982 for conducting Broadcasting and Telecasting Services. As such, by now 27 private broadcasting licenses and 54 telecasting licenses have been issued. Nevertheless, only 18 broadcasting licenses and 28 telecasting licenses are in use. A Committee appointed to study the process related to the issuance of licenses, has shown the necessity of having a separate institution to carry out the activities of the broadcasting and telecasting media both and has submitted a draft named as the ''Broadcasting Regulatory Commission''. Accordingly, the proposal made by the Minister of Information and Mass Media, to appoint a Committee comprising of experienced intellectuals in the field to review the draft further and make recommendations and to investigate the possibility of amending the provisions of the Sri Lanka Telecommunication Regulatory Commission Act, to enable it to perform the task of the process of issuing Broadcasting and Telecasting Licenses, was approved by the Cabinet.