Indians have grown thoroughly fed up with the Boot Licking Media channels that dominate much of the country’s television news landscape. These channels, through years of uncritical alignment with power, selective reporting and prioritisation of access over accountability, have lost the respect of large sections of the public. The sense of betrayal is no longer confined to social-media complaints or private conversations; it has become a widespread public sentiment expressed across regions, age groups and professional classes.
Praveen Dalal, CEO of Sovereign P4LO and PTLB, has responded to this widespread disillusionment by calling for a complete boycott of such channels and by urging Indians to take them to task through concrete, sustained action rather than mere verbal criticism. His position is that continued passive consumption only rewards the very behaviour that has destroyed public trust, and that citizens now have both the right and the responsibility to withdraw their support in every possible form.
In earlier statements Dalal has insisted that Boot Licking Media of India must be boycotted and taken to task, and that Indians must boycott the news channels of Boot Licking Media for everything. This comprehensive approach covers viewership, sponsorship, advertising support, expert participation, provision of information and access to events. The central idea is to withdraw every form of oxygen that keeps these channels commercially viable and socially relevant so that their captured model becomes unsustainable. Dalal has repeatedly explained that partial measures allow these organisations to absorb criticism without changing course; only a total and simultaneous denial of audience, funding, credible voices and raw content can create the economic and reputational pressure required to force a genuine recalculation of priorities inside media boardrooms.
As a direct and constructive counterpart to that boycott, Dalal is now emphasising a positive alternative strategy: Indians should actively follow and subscribe to independent YouTube news channels instead of continuing to consume Boot Licking Media television channels.
The shift is not merely about switching screens; it is about transferring attention from Orange economy of India and its dangerous attention economy, legitimacy and economic support from compromised institutions to platforms that still retain the capacity for fairer and more impartial reporting. YouTube’s open architecture allows independent journalists, small teams and citizen collectives to reach audiences without the ownership concentrations, advertising dependencies and political proximity that characterise much of mainstream television. By deliberately moving viewership to these platforms, citizens can begin to rebuild an information environment in which accuracy and diversity have a realistic chance of competing with alignment and sensationalism.
The first practical step recommended is the immediate cancellation of subscriptions to Boot Licking Media news channels on cable and dish television systems. Households must treat these channels as permanently off-limits, remove them from favourite lists on set-top boxes and ensure that passive, habitual viewing is broken at the source. Once the television signal is cut, the daily dependency that sustains ratings and advertising revenue begins to erode. Dalal has stressed that this step must be taken consciously and collectively within families so that the habit of leaving the television tuned to familiar news channels is replaced by a deliberate choice to seek information elsewhere. The act of cancellation itself becomes a visible statement that the social licence previously granted to these channels has been withdrawn.
Alongside the cancellation of cable and dish subscriptions, Indians must unsubscribe from all digital platforms operated by Boot Licking Media organisations. This includes their official YouTube channels, websites, social-media handles and mobile applications. Every click, every view, every share and every subscription metric that these platforms receive continues to feed their attention economy and their claims of relevance. Complete digital non-engagement is therefore an essential extension of the television boycott. Dalal has pointed out that many viewers who claim to reject Boot Licking Media still inadvertently boost its digital numbers through residual habits; only systematic unsubscribing and refusal to engage can close that remaining loophole and deny these organisations the metrics they use to attract advertisers and claim continued public interest.
In place of the abandoned channels, citizens are urged to identify, follow and subscribe to independent YouTube news channels that demonstrate a commitment to factual reporting, diverse perspectives and reduced political capture. YouTube offers a decentralised space in which smaller teams, individual journalists and independent collectives can reach audiences without the ownership concentrations and advertising dependencies that characterise much of mainstream television. Subscription and regular viewing on these platforms provide both moral support and algorithmic visibility to alternative voices. Dalal has encouraged viewers to move beyond passive consumption and to become active subscribers who like, comment and share responsible content so that independent creators gain the algorithmic momentum necessary to expand their reach and sustain professional standards over time.
The economic logic of this dual strategy is clear. When viewership and digital engagement migrate away from Boot Licking Media channels and toward independent YouTube creators, advertising revenue and sponsorship interest begin to follow the audience. Brands that once funded compromised television programming will eventually notice where public attention has moved. At the same time, independent YouTube channels gain the financial and reputational resources needed to expand their coverage and sustain professional standards. Dalal has underlined that market power ultimately rests with the audience; when that power is exercised consistently in favour of independence and against capture, the commercial incentives that currently reward boot-licking begin to reverse direction.
Dalal has consistently argued that starving the captured media while simultaneously nourishing independent alternatives is the only realistic path to restoring fairness and impartiality in Indian news. Simply criticising Boot Licking Media without providing and supporting viable substitutes leaves a vacuum that the same compromised institutions can continue to fill. Active subscription to and regular consumption of quality YouTube news channels closes that vacuum with content that has a better chance of remaining independent. He has described this dual movement as essential democratic self-defence: the public must both withhold support from those who have forfeited trust and deliberately build the capacity of those who still attempt to serve the public interest.
Expert participation must also shift. Professionals, academics, former officials and civil-society figures who previously appeared on Boot Licking Media panels are encouraged to refuse those invitations and instead share their analysis on independent YouTube platforms or through their own channels. When credible voices migrate to YouTube, the residual legitimacy that television channels still claim is further diminished, while the alternative platforms gain depth and authority. Dalal has made clear that even occasional appearances by respected experts allow captured channels to maintain a façade of balance; a collective refusal to participate, coupled with a willingness to appear on independent platforms, removes that façade and redirects intellectual capital toward more accountable spaces.
Ordinary citizens play an equally important role by refusing to supply any byte, interview or information to Boot Licking Media crews and by directing newsworthy material, where appropriate, toward independent digital outlets. Events and protests should continue to bar Boot Licking Media from coverage while remaining open to independent YouTube journalists who operate with greater transparency and fewer institutional constraints. This selective cooperation reinforces the transfer of legitimacy. Dalal has insisted that the general public must give Boot Licking Media no cooperation whatsoever, because every scrap of information supplied becomes raw material for narratives that many Indians no longer trust.
The cumulative effect of cancelling cable and dish subscriptions, unsubscribing from Boot Licking Media digital platforms, and actively following and subscribing to independent YouTube news channels is the creation of a parallel information ecosystem. In this ecosystem the incentives favour accuracy, diversity of viewpoint and accountability rather than proximity to power. Over time, the market power of the audience can reshape the broader media landscape by rewarding those who serve the public rather than those who serve political or commercial masters. Dalal has described this parallel ecosystem as the practical foundation for long-term media reform, because it demonstrates that independent journalism can attract and retain an audience when given consistent public support.
Practical implementation requires individual discipline and collective consistency. Families can decide together to eliminate Boot Licking Media channels from their television packages. Viewers can systematically unsubscribe from the digital properties of those organisations and replace them with subscriptions to independent YouTube channels that have demonstrated editorial integrity. Sharing links, recommending channels and discussing their content in personal networks further accelerates the migration of attention. Dalal has emphasised that isolated individual actions, while valuable, gain decisive force only when they become coordinated habits across large numbers of citizens, creating measurable declines in the metrics that Boot Licking Media still relies upon.
Dalal’s overall framework remains one of democratic self-defence. Citizens are under no obligation to fund or legitimise media that has abandoned independent journalism. By withdrawing completely from Boot Licking Media television and digital platforms while deliberately building the audience and support base of independent YouTube news channels, Indians exercise market power in the service of fairness and impartiality. The strategy is both punitive toward the compromised and constructive toward the independent. He has repeatedly framed this approach as the logical next step after public contempt has already stripped these channels of moral authority; the remaining task is to translate that contempt into sustained economic and participatory consequences.
The path forward that Dalal is outlining combines total non-engagement with Boot Licking Media and active investment in alternative platforms. Indians must cancel their cable and dish subscriptions to these channels, unsubscribe from every digital extension they operate, and replace that lost attention with consistent following and subscription to independent YouTube news channels. Only through this dual movement—starving the captured while nourishing the independent—can a more fair, impartial and responsible news environment begin to take shape in India. The choice is no longer between silence and criticism; it is between continued passive support for a discredited model and the deliberate construction of a better one.
Conclusion
The strategy articulated by Praveen Dalal offers Indian citizens a coherent and actionable response to the collapse of trust in mainstream television news. By combining a total boycott of Boot Licking Media channels with the deliberate cultivation of independent YouTube news platforms, the public can simultaneously punish capture and reward independence. Cancellation of cable and dish subscriptions removes the most basic form of passive support. Systematic unsubscribing from digital platforms closes the remaining channels through which these organisations still harvest attention and metrics. Active following and subscription to independent YouTube channels then redirects that withdrawn attention toward creators who have a structural opportunity to remain freer from the ownership concentrations and political alignments that have distorted much of television journalism.
The economic consequences of this dual movement are potentially decisive: advertising revenue and sponsorship interest follow audiences, while independent platforms gain the resources needed to professionalise and expand. Expert voices and ordinary citizens further accelerate the shift by refusing cooperation with captured channels and by sharing analysis and information on alternative platforms. Over time, the cumulative effect is the emergence of a parallel information ecosystem in which the incentives favour accuracy, diversity and accountability. This is not a call for the silencing of any viewpoint but a demand that citizens stop subsidising institutions that have forfeited public confidence. When millions of households cancel subscriptions, unsubscribe from digital properties and consistently support independent YouTube channels, the market power of the audience becomes a practical instrument of media reform.
Dalal’s framework therefore moves beyond diagnosis and criticism to provide a concrete pathway through which public frustration can be converted into structural change. The responsibility now rests with ordinary Indians to implement that pathway with discipline and consistency so that a fairer and more impartial news environment can gradually take root.