I&B ministry weighs bill to regulate OTT, DTH

The bill, currently in its initial stages, is likely to be taken up only after the general elections next year. It will focus on the regulation of OTT services that are engaged in broadcasting, while the one-to-one or direct messaging OTTs will be taken up for regulation in the Indian Telecommunications Bill.

“The OTT broadcasting regulation will be taken up separately. There is work going on for a new bill. It is still being prepared, and the draft is not public. It will anyway be taken up after elections," one of the people said.

Broadcasting was earlier included in the definition of communication in the telecom bill, but it is now removed from the definition and will be taken up separately, the person said. “All issues that I&B (information and broadcasting ministry) had, with regards to the bill have been resolved," the person said.

A second person familiar with the development said the broadcasting ministry is considering renaming the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act as the Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill to bring direct-to-home (DTH) and OTT services under it. “There is even a draft ready for the same," the person said.

Queries to the I&B ministry did not elicit a response as of Thursday evening.

OTT platforms in India have already been brought under government purview via the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. Further, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has received several representations, particularly from cable operators, to bring OTT platforms under its regulatory ambit to create a level-playing field.

In view of increasing competition from streaming platforms, traditional cable operators said they feel threatened by the rise of OTT services. While talks are underway on a single regulator for broadcasting services, Trai’s scope is limited to tariffs, and content falls under the purview of the I&B ministry, according to media and legal experts.

Recently, video-streaming platforms reached out to the government, reiterating their commitment to both responsible content creation and self-regulation amid increasing scrutiny by authorities.

The Internet and Mobile Association of India and the Indian Digital Media Industry Foundation had written to the government on behalf of the platforms, conveying the industry’s stand. With increasing discovery and consumption of content on OTT, these platforms have found themselves under scrutiny, especially since 2021, when Amazon Prime Video’s Tandav became the first Indian web original to modify portions after protests.

On Thursday, the Cellular Operators Association of India, which represents telecom service providers, said OTTs should be mandated to give a ‘fair share’ of their revenues generated from their business to the telcos that were responsible for carrying the content to the consumers.

A handful of companies generate around 81% of the global internet traffic and are majorly owned by large global corporate entities with massive earnings, who earn twin sources of revenues from the consumers as well as advertisers, COAI said, giving the example of markets like South Korea where OTT companies give 1-3% share of their advertising revenue to telcos.

“However, their revenues do not contribute to the Indian economy as they get carried to their country of origin. COAI believes they need to contribute to this Indian market, which has been acknowledged as one," said COAI director general S.P. Kochhar. Charging such fees would not violate the principle of net neutrality, he added. The comments came on the heels of reports that Trai was mulling issuing a consultation paper on regulating OTTs.