#e4mExclusive:  MIB mulls fresh accessibility norms for TV channels, may ease compliance timelines

After finalising accessibility guidelines for OTT platforms earlier this year, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) is now considering a fresh framework for television broadcasters, with a possible rethink of the implementation timelines and certain technical accessibility requirements, people familiar with the matter said.

The proposed exercise is expected to take into account the difficulties faced by broadcasters and distribution platform operators (DPOs) in implementing the accessibility standards issued by the ministry in 2019. 

The new framework could provide clearer timeframes for compliance and relax or rationalise some requirements to make implementation more practical across the television distribution chain, the people said.

The move comes after the government issued accessibility guidelines for OTT platforms in February 2026, following a consultation process that began with draft norms in 2025. The final OTT framework provides an implementation schedule for accessibility features for newly published content. 

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The ministry had first issued the Accessibility Standards for Persons with Disabilities in Television Programmes on September 11, 2019. The standards were framed under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, and were aimed at improving television access for people with hearing impairment.

The 2019 framework envisaged a phased rollout rather than immediate, full-scale compliance. It required private non-news broadcasters to begin with one programme a week with captions, while private news broadcasters were to start with daily sign-language news bulletins. The standards also envisaged progressively increasing the proportion of accessible content over subsequent years.

However, implementation proved difficult across the television ecosystem, particularly because accessibility is not confined to broadcasters alone. The 2019 document broadly defines service providers to include broadcasters as well as cable and satellite network operators and other distributors.

It also recognises the complexity of the audio-visual content value chain and calls for coordination between content creators, broadcasters and distributors.

Legacy infrastructure, multiple players complicate compliance

One key issue for the industry has been that accessibility features need to work across the entire delivery chain, from content production and playout to distribution and the consumer's television or set-top box.

The 2019 standards acknowledge technical difficulties themselves and prescribe a phased implementation roadmap. They require television sets and set-top boxes to provide easy access to captions, subtitles and sign-language interpretation, while remote controls and other controls are also expected to support accessibility features.

"Accessibility is not a single-point compliance exercise for a broadcaster. The broadcaster can create the caption or sign-language feed, but the signal has to travel through the distribution network and ultimately be supported by the consumer equipment. Any mismatch in the chain can make the feature ineffective," said a senior executive at a broadcast network, requesting anonymity.

DPOs have also faced challenges in upgrading legacy headend and set-top-box infrastructure and ensuring that accessibility signals are passed through without disruption, according to industry executives.

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"The biggest challenge has been interoperability. There are multiple generations of set-top boxes and distribution systems in the market. A requirement that looks simple at the content end can require significant testing and technology changes at the distribution end," said an executive with a distribution platform, who did not wish to be identified.

The 2019 standards specifically provided that the ministry could issue guidelines to ensure interoperability of television services and equipment so that viewers could receive, decode and display accessibility services.

MIB may look at more workable timelines

The proposed review is likely to focus on making the compliance calendar more predictable for broadcasters, particularly where implementation requires changes to production workflows, playout systems, content libraries and distribution infrastructure.

The 2019 standards had already recognised that a phased approach would be necessary because of technical difficulties. They provided an exemption for channels with an average audience share of less than 1% over a 12-month period and allowed such channels three months to implement the standards after crossing the threshold.

For private broadcasters other than news channels, the framework initially required one programme a week with captions, while the longer-term roadmap contemplated accessibility services for a substantially larger proportion of programming. Foreign-language English channels faced a separate target of up to 80% of content.

"The intent of the 2019 standards was never in question. The issue was that the industry needed a more granular roadmap showing what had to be done by the broadcaster, what had to be done by the DPO and what depended on the television or set-top-box ecosystem. A revised framework could address this by assigning responsibilities more clearly," said another senior broadcast industry executive.

Content requirements could also be rationalised

The 2019 framework already recognised that not every category of programming could be treated identically. Live and deferred-live sports, live news, music shows, award shows, live reality programming and certain other formats were exempted because of the nature of the content. Advertisements and teleshopping were also excluded.

Industry executives expect a revised framework to retain the principle of accessibility while providing greater flexibility around formats and production realities.

"Live content is fundamentally different from a pre-recorded programme. For recorded content, captions can be prepared, quality-checked and synchronised in advance. For live programming, especially news and events, the technology, turnaround time and accuracy requirements are very different," said a senior executive at a television broadcaster.

The 2019 standards, for instance, require pre-recorded captions to be reviewed for accuracy and call for advance preparation of scripted material and specialised vocabulary for live captioning. They also prescribe close synchronisation between speech and captions.

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OTT experience could inform television review

The television review is also significant because the government has now completed a separate accessibility framework for OTT platforms. The final OTT guidelines, issued on February 6, 2026, followed a draft released for consultation in October 2025 and provide an implementation schedule for accessibility features for new content.

The final OTT framework also represented a recalibration from the more stringent draft proposals, with the government providing a longer transition period for implementation and taking a best-effort approach to legacy catalogues.

This approach could offer a template for the television sector, where a large installed base of legacy television sets and set-top boxes makes a blanket technology mandate difficult to execute quickly.

"The OTT exercise has demonstrated that accessibility regulation can be structured with clear implementation phases rather than expecting the entire ecosystem to become compliant overnight. Television is an even more complex environment because of the involvement of broadcasters, DPOs, equipment manufacturers and consumers," said the broadcast industry executive cited above.

The ministry's 2019 television standards had also envisaged measurable targets, monitoring mechanisms and periodic review. The document says the policy should be reviewed every two years in view of fast-moving technological developments and market conditions.

The proposed fresh guidelines could therefore seek to retain the core accessibility objective while making the compliance architecture more workable for India's fragmented television ecosystem.

For broadcasters, the expectation is that a revised framework will provide sufficient transition time, clearer allocation of responsibilities between broadcasters and DPOs, and flexibility in meeting accessibility objectives without requiring extensive changes to legacy infrastructure at short notice.