The government is in the consultative process of drafting the Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, 2024, with an aim to get Over the Top – OTT broadcasters services and online content creators under its regulatory clasp – a move that has invited scorn from the Opposition and Independent content creators.
A new redrafted bill is likely to be ready by next month and if all stakeholders come around it, it may be even tabled in the next Parliament session. Earlier the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had withdrawn the draft Bill just before it was to be tabled in the June session of the Parliament but the government had re-sought consultation with “all” stake-holders over some “points of contention”. The draft had already kicked up a row amid fears that the government was trying to exert greater control over online content and invariably on freedom of speech and expression. The ministry has rebuffed those claims and said it was important for online content creators to adhere to a certain set of rules and regulations.The Bill Contents
As per the new draft bill, the government is set to replace the 30-year-old Cable TV Networks Act 1995 with Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill 2024. Also, the ministry will expand its remit from OTT content and digital news to include social media accounts and online video creators compared to an earlier version of the draft law which was released publicly in November 2023. So, what does the Bill aim at?- It will bring major OTT services like Netflix, JioCinema, and Disney+ Hotstar and content creators under its overreach.
- Draft asks them to formulate Content Evaluation Committees (CECs) to check all content before publishing. It proposes to impose criminal liability for those who violate it.
- Mandates OTT broadcasters to intimate the government within a month of its operations with the number of subscribers/viewers.
- Broadcasters will have to register under a three-tier regulatory framework similar to OTT services. They will also have to create a ‘content evaluation committee’ at their own cost to screen the content before going live. Those failing to do so will likely face criminal liability.
- Proposes to set up a Broadcast Advisory Council comprising five officers nominated by the Centre and professionals in the industry, to impose monetary penalties in case of violations.
- The draft empowers the government to conduct inspections without prior permission on broadcasting networks, broadcasting service providers and content creators covered by the bill.
- Failing to maintain updated records of subscriber data will result in a fine of Rs 50 lakhs for the first offense and Rs 2.5 crore for repeated offenses within three years.
Who are the News Broadcasters Under New Bill?
The new draft defines ‘professional’ as a person engaged in an occupation or vocation — and ‘systematic activity’ as “any structured or organised activity that involves an element of planning, method, continuity or persistence”. The new draft mentions that “news and current affairs programmes” would include ‘texts’ apart from the existing “audio, visual or audio-visual content, sign, signals, writing, images” which are “transmitted directly or using a broadcasting network”. Stake-holders and content creators would be keen to look up at the re-tweaked Draft Bill and its likely impact on their functioning but the government points out that it is only pushing a consolidated legal framework to organize the broadcasting sector.Read more: “India’s AI mission to benefit society”, says Union IT Minister Ashwini VaishnawAs curtains draw to a close this election season, was AI capitalised or demonised this election season?
