The MIB secretary was referring to growing concerns among the general public about vulgar and obscene content that some of the OTT platforms are streaming.
While advising the OTT industry to be cognisant of the country’s culture while producing content, he said OTT platforms have become an important part of the media & entertainment (M&E) industry even as the traditional media continues to be its core and backbone.
“There are concerns that these soft-touch regulations may have led to some content that is not desirable. We would request the industry to be cognizant of the concerns and culture of the country,” Chandra said in a keynote conversation session with Clare Bloomfield, Acting Chief Policy Officer of Asia Video Industry Association (AVIA) on Thursday.
Chandra said that the government encourages self-regulation by prescribing a three-tier grievance redressal mechanism for content consumers. He added that the self-regulatory mechanism is doing well as the ministry has received very few complaints against TV and OTT content.
“We think it is going quite well. In the first stage, if a complaint is received regarding the quality of content, it is sent to the content producer to take action. At the secondary level, there is an industry body to look into it and lastly, it comes to the I&B Ministry. We have received very few complaints at the Ministry level,” he noted.
The I&B Secretary stated that the Cinematograph Act is being reworked and the bill to amend the act will be introduced in the Parliament very soon. He said that a provision regarding the transmission of film content on the internet is being added to prevent content piracy.“If that happens, it will go a big way in protecting copyright and we will be able to block those websites where pirated content is transmitted. But let’s see how it goes in the Parliament and how it proceeds,” he said.
The MIB secretary stated that the government is committed to acting against piracy. “If you bring to our notice that certain websites are being used for pirated content, then we work towards blocking those websites,” he said.
He stated that a National Broadcasting Policy has been in the works because the broadcasting sector is now fragmented into several parts with conflicting interests and the various broadcasters like media broadcasters, OTTs, etc. have different mechanisms, regulations, and tariffs. “So there is a need for a national broadcasting policy,” he added.
He also said that terrestrial broadcasting is no longer viable and everybody has switched to satellite mode. “We decided that the frequency which was allocated to terrestrial broadcasting and was lying unused for several years may be used for telecom purposes if required. Otherwise, whatever frequencies are allocated to broadcasting will remain with broadcasting”, he added.
