Code of ethics brought discipline to OTT sector: I&B Joint Secy

Dubai: The code of ethics for news publishers, over-the-top (OTT) platforms and digital media has helped in bringing about "a lot of discipline" in the sector, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting Joint Secretary Vikram Sahay said on Sunday.

The joint secretary was speaking at a roundtable on news broadcasting at the India Pavilion during the EXPO2020 Dubai here. In India, there's no permission required to launch an OTT platform, Sahay said.

"There are about 40-50 OTT platforms in India, none of them have to either register or seek prior permission. All of them have evolved in their own way depending on their business models and plans.

"Not only international platforms like Netflix and zon, but also a lot of OTT channels domestically have come up, including the ones in the regional languages. Only on content we have a code of ethics that we evolved a year back," he added.

Last year, the Indian government said a code of ethics and three-tier grievance redressal mechanism would be applicable for news publishers, OTT platforms and digital media.

Seeking to establish a soft touch regulatory framework for these entities, the government had said OTT platforms (like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video) would have to self-classify the content into five age-based categories U (Universal), U/A 7+ (years), U/A 13+, U/A 16+, and A (Adult).

Such platforms would be required to implement parental locks for content classified as U/A 13+ or higher and reliable age-verification mechanisms for content classified as 'A'. There was a lot of hue and cry within the country from the people and the entertainment industry, said Sahay, adding, "We can't have a medium as powerful and pervasive as OTT and have no discipline on the content."

"And the code has brought a lot of self discipline in the entire OTT sector. By and large, they have been quite happy about it," he said. Lot of countries are trying to understand the regulatory framework of India so that they can create their own code for the sector, the joint secretary pointed out.

"Last year in February, we brought the rules for digital news publishing and OTT content. In November, Bangladesh released its draft OTT regulations which was 98 per cent what was on the Indian code. So, they have the same system. It's something the other countries would like to emulate, so it's a good thing that way."

The I&B ministry also had a meeting with the representatives of Vietnam, he said.

"They are also trying to find out some solutions to the OTT content. We have shared the entire system that we have with them," Sahay added. PTI