HC stays I&B order on Bigg Boss

The Bombay High Court today stayed till Monday a central government order directing Colors TV to change the broadcast timings of its popular reality show Bigg Boss, the channel said.

You can watch Bigg Boss at 9 pm. Till Sunday at least. Viacom 18 media Private Limited, which owns entertainment channel Colors, secured a stay from Bombay High Court on Thursday to this effect.

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News channels, however, still cannot show clips from the programme between 5 am and 11 pm and those who did so on Thursday while reporting the stay order are likely to face action from the ministry soon.

On Wednesday, the information and broadcasting ministry issued an order directing Colors to shift Bigg Boss to a post 11 pm slot. The order was issued in response to widespread criticism of the abusive language that participants use on screen.

The channel, however, went ahead and screened the programme as originally scheduled on Wednesday evening at 9 pm and secured a court stay order on Thursday. The court asked the ministry to provide its version and have a representative present on Monday, when the court will rule on the matter.

Ministry officials, however, were miffed and said, "We will wait and see what the court directs. The channel is within its rights to seek a stay, however, they should not have aired the programme on Wednesday evening pretending they were not aware of the ministry order."

(Inputs from Mumbai bureau)