Govt Prepares New Broadcast Policy To Regulate OTT Platforms
Complaints prompt the Centre to introduce stricter OTT content rules; FM radio news broadcasting is also under review
The Union government is developing a new broadcast policy in response to complaints about over-the-top (OTT) platforms not following self-regulatory guidelines, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs, L Murugan, disclosed on 23 October.
The Minister said the government is working on regulating OTT content and has placed the draft policy in the public domain to gather feedback from the public and stakeholders, as per reports.
Murugan highlighted that while OTT platforms were instructed to adopt self-regulation practices such as age-based content classification and disclaimers, there have been complaints from both the public and industry that these measures were not being properly followed.
The Minister also noted that the government is in discussions with stakeholders to explore allowing private FM radio stations to broadcast news bulletins, in addition to the existing service provided by All India Radio.
