Cable indecency, Indian style

The United States is not the only country whose cable industry is under fire for allowing "indecency". India is taking its own action to ban "adult" shows on its domestic cable system. Alcohol and tobacco ads are also to be purged under amendments to the Indian government's Cable Network Act, which comes into force in the next few days. "All programmes will now have to be in conformity with the code prescribing norms of decency, morality and national security," according to a government spokesman quoted by the BBC. The BBC also notes that the changes come only two months after the Indian government "allowed foreign television countries to broadcast to India via cable for the first time." The changes seem to be part of a raft of measures to tighten up regulation of India's famously ramshackle cable industry, as foreign cable and satellite broadcasters are allowed into India for the first time. Copyright enforcement is also being pushed by the the central government. It seems to be that, from India's point of view, trade liberalization, copyright enforcement and regulation of morality go hand in hand!