The Impact of Implications of Clean Feed Among Common Nepalese People

 

The official implementation of clean feed in Nepal formally started from Kartik 07,2077 though it was to be implemented a year before.According to the President of Nepal Cable Television Association, Sudhir Parajuli, only 32 foreign channels are broadcasting clean feed content from Friday midnight. More than 180 channels have been stopped to feature for the time being which can be extended to two weeks at the least. The forbidden channels includes a large number of Indian TV channels. Around 180 channels😲😲 are to be Cut off with the effective implementation of Clean Feed Policy. And you can just imagine how much more Foreign TV channels were shown up to now.🤔🤔 Anyways we Nepalese got the proper attention towards our own channels which are still so less with much lesser contents to attract the viewers. 🧐🧐

Because of lack of proper coordination between the government officials and the channel dealers clean feed was implemented without any proper plans. Due to this obviously the common Nepalese People who do not have enough to spend for WiFi has to suffer. Let's not confine ourselves to those people who are rich enough to afford a WiFi but to those who bought one Television with all those difficulties. They are not at all satisfied with the services that they have already paid for and not getting anything in return They paid the amount for all the channels they were watching. They are not content with paying the same amount for the limited and boring television channels. Of course there are enough Nepalese television channels that needless broadcasts the news, songs, dance numbers, talk shows, reality shows etc. But needless to say each and every channel of Nepal is solely influenced by the foreign TV channels especially Indians. And those Nepalese viewers who are well accustomed to watching foreign shows were not at all happy.  

Nepalese viewers have already paid for what they want to watch. And in return they don't get any Leal services let alone getting plucked from their favourite TV channels. Most of the sports freak person were so very disappointed and furious that they were detached from watching the IPL cricket in the middle of the season.

What is a Clean Feed Policy?

In simpler words clean feed means to clean all the broadcasted channels within the boundaries of Nepal  be broadcasted clean without any advertisements. Meaning those foreign channels are forbidden to on air any of their advertisements and their products.
As we all know, the broadcasting system of our country has been feeding us foreign channels along with their advertisements for a long time. It means there was no medium between a foreign sender and a domestic receiver that would filter the TV channel content. And whatever the foreign TV channels would want to show us we people were only to see that. Wow!!
After the implementation of the Clean Feed Policy as per the Advertising Act 2076, the television broadcasting system of Nepal is not allowed to broadcast foreign advertisements. All the TV broadcasts are now clean or free from any foreign ads. Digital transmission of the TV content enables such clean feed TV broadcasts, whereas they need to get such content from the service providers/broadcasters (Foreign TV providers).

Clean Feed In Other Countries

Several countries have policies to control and analyze the distribution of channels on television, such as Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan in the south Asian countries.But, there were no barriers to foreign channels to feature their content and advertisement in Nepal until now. And now finally the Nepalese government has taken an initiative step towards filtering the foreign feed.

Now What??

A governmental body (Advertising Board) will consistently monitor the broadcasting in Nepal and will take legal action against the concerned TV station that fails to follow the rule. The rule has it that they will impose a fine from Rs 1 lakh to 5 lakhs for those who publish or broadcast against the Advertising Act.

‘Zee’ channels and ‘Sony’ channels some 'Star' channels , 'Colors' channels qualify the clean feed policy and continue the broadcast until now, whereas  BBC, CNN, and cartoon channels hasn't shown up. Among several Indian news channels, only Zee news will continue the broadcast. Other news channels have not even shown interest to broadcast in Nepal with Clean Feed. Similarly, apart from the paid package, 120 channels available for free on the ‘free to air’ TV package are also stopped.

With the clean feed, the cable operators could not broadcast the several TV channels, including the STAR packages, that contain Star Sports Channel. Nepal is so much influenced by the Indian culture as they have grown up watching the Indian shows. Even the small kids of five six years old are fluent in speaking Indian watching a lot of Indian dubbed cartoons. There are not enough cartoons for the kids in Nepali languages. And they are forced to watch the Indian cartoons like MotuPatlu, Shiva, Oggy and the Cockroaches and likewise. They copy the exact accent of the characters that is likely to demotivate the kids From their own Nepali culture.

Several TV service providers like WorldLink (NetTV), DishHome, ViaNet, Subisu (Clear TV)  ,mero tv have published a notice for their inability to broadcast few TV channels as the broadcasters could not deliver the clean feed to them. They are apologizing for the dissatisfaction among the customers.

Positive and Negative Impact of Implementation of Clean Feed In Nepal

This is one of the most positive after effects I have seen from clean feed implications. We Nepalese were so very irritated with the same  advertisements in the Hindi channels as well as seeing the same advertisements dubbed in the Nepalese channels. It is one of the major sigh of relief. The Indian as well as foreign products if shown lesser in Nepal the more people will be inclined to buying the Nepalese products promoting the Nepalese market hype. With the implementation of clean feed, our television screen will become foreign ad-free, and that would automatically create space for Nepali advertisements. It will help Nepali brands and products to reach larger households, which will have a positive impact on their business.

The absence of clean feed has directly affected the Nepali advertising industry. So on the positive side, the Nepali advertising industry will have an opportunity to grow its business. The policy will help create employment in the domestic advertising field. They believe that Clean Feed implementation will have a 40% growth in the domestic advertisement industry. But they also need to be competent enough to produce quality ads to satisfy foreign TV content providers. The more concerned thing is that the Nepalese advertisements should be qualified enough to show an impact in the hearts of Nepalese. Of course most of the ads are already of such level and category.

Similarly, on the negative side, the implementation of clean feed is likely to increase the cost of the television channels. The high bill may lead to a decrease in TV viewership. Most of the Nepalese are not rich enough to pay for the TV which they barely have time to watch. They work from early morning to late in the evening. And what little time they are left with goes to the TV. So they will not spend extra of their income in watching TV for few hours, instead they will search for the other alternatives.

Cable operators who were resisting to implement the clean feed for a long time, are demanding clean feed for IPTV and OTT platforms.
The audiences can watch the contents of cable television on IPTV and OTT (Over The Top) apps with an internet connection on smartphones and laptops. It is easily accessible and cheaper than a cable TV connection. As per them, these applications do not contribute to the country’s economy. Whereas the cable television operators are paying these taxes and losing viewers to OTT apps.
There are various other means of alternatives to TV channels such as Netflix, Torrent, Voot, and YouTube the least. With all these internet connection applications people are more likely to get inclined towards these apps. They will eventually stop watching TV which most of the youths are already been doing. They don't even spent an hour with the Television. They are engaged with the internet and it's contents. So the risk of losing TV viewers in the future is really high.

Finally:

The implementation of Clean Feed has both positive as well as negative effects amongst the Nepalese viewers. On one hand,there is proper and enough advertisements of the Nepalese products along with the rise in market. On the other hand, People will be deprived of watching their favourite TV channels and shows for a certain time being which can be extended all along. 

What do you think of the implementation of Clean Feed Policy in Nepal?? It can be both positive as well as negative effects. Please feel free to comment on the comments section below.👇👇🙂☺️

By Sanjita Napit