Date: 21st February 2001

Indian Officials Call French Fashion Channel Obscene


FTV, a French satellite channel highlighting fashion and haute couture, has agreed to take steps to bring its programming beamed to India into conformity with "Indian sensibilities" and remove "objectionable" images, Agence France Presse reported today (Wednesday).

At a meeting in New Delhi between Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj and an FTV group, Swaraj reportedly remarked, "Fashion needs clothes on the body," suggesting that programs featuring scantily dressed models and women wearing lingerie were unsuitable in India and bordered on obscenity. FTV officials said that they planned to set up a new channel called FTV India in which such programs would not be carried between 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.

Source: Studio Briefing