Government Making Policy to Regulate OTT Platforms, Netflix, Amazon Prime

Complaints against over-the-top (OTT) platforms have increased rapidly in the last few years. To regulate the content of these platforms, the central government is making a new broadcast policy. Concern has increased over OTT not following self-regulatory guidelines. For this reason the government is preparing to regulate them.

Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L Murugan said that the ministry is assessing industry feedback and public input before presenting this policy in Parliament. He said that these platforms have started measures like viewer age classification and content advisories. However, these methods of self-regulation have been questioned by both industry stakeholders and the public. OTT The Services display disclaimers and tag content for adult audiences. Its purpose is to give the audience an informed choice.

Murugan said that despite these measures, a large number of complaints are being received against OTT platforms. In these complaints, it is said that these platforms do not consistently follow the guidelines. For this reason, the ministry has started making a policy to regulate the content on these platforms. Apart from this, the government is also considering allowing private FM channels to broadcast news bulletins.

OTT platforms also have a stake in the problem of piracy. According to a report by consultancy firm EY and Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), the piracy business increased to about Rs 224 billion last year. Of this, approximately Rs 137 billion was found from pirated movie theater content and Rs 87 billion from illegal OTT platform content. The demand for pirated content is increasing rapidly. Streaming platforms are becoming a big source for illegal content. Their share in pirated content is about 63 percent. This is followed by mobile apps (about 16 percent) and torrents and social media (about 21 percent). About 51 percent of media consumers in the country are using pirated sources. Of these, more than 75 percent are in the 19-34 age group. Generally, men like old movies and women like OTT content more.