Mumbai, Aug. 24: If films with U/A (universal/adult) certification are to be shown on cable TV, they must come with a scroll stating children can watch only under parental guidance.

Bombay High Court yesterday made this modification to its order of December 21, 2005, which had banned cable operators from airing A-rated (adult) films.

The hearing of the case had continued with the petitioner, social activist Pratibha Naithani, demanding a ban on U/A films as well. But the high court ruled this out on Wednesday, adding the provision of the cautionary scroll.

The court said if police have acted against anybody in the cable industry for showing a U/A movie in the past few days, the action must be reversed.

Cable operators had blacked out services in Maharashtra in protest against police raids and agreed to resume beaming only after the state government assured them that “parties not violating (adult content) norms will not be punished”.

The nine channels charged with showing adult content — Zee Cinema, STAR Movies, HBO, Filmy, STAR Gold, AXN, Max, STAR One and Sahara One — will remain off the air in the state at least till tomorrow’s hearing. But cable operators said they would wait till the matter is sorted out.

“The broadcasters have centralised content. There is no mechanism by which we can air different movies in different states on the same channel,” said Ganesh Naidu, president of the Cable Operators’ and Distributors’ Association.

“The decoders of the nine channels are still sealed. Only when the broadcasters have their documentation in place shall we air those channels. Whatever movies they air here will be aired all over India — so in reality, though this is a Bombay High Court order, it will have an all-India effect. I presume they (the broadcasters) will move the Supreme Court.”

The state police chief said it might take the channels a month and a half to get their decoders back. “We will monitor them on a regular basis. We will send the concerned broadcasters chargesheets and then they will approach the court to get their seized decoders. The process will take 30-45 days,” director-general of police P.S. Pasricha said.

In December 2005, the high court had ordered the police to act against cable operators and cable service providers who showed movies without censor board certification.

All broadcasters, including direct-to-home (DTH) service providers and foreign channels, are bound by the December 2005 order banning the telecast of A-rated movies, the court clarified yesterday. Broadcasters must obtain censor board certification before airing any film.

“The laws were always there; the implementation was the problem,” Naithani said today.

“The court yesterday said that stricter action should be taken against broadcasters who violated the ruling.”