The parliamentary committee dealing with communication and technology in India has asked the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) to quickly present a new Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill in parliament. This bill aims to improve the way media is regulated in India.
In January, the MIB told the committee they would finish talking to different groups about the bill by October 15, 2024. After that, they will create a new draft of the bill and a note for the cabinet to discuss. The committee wants to know how long this will take and stressed that the MIB should talk to all necessary groups during this process.
Currently, the cable TV industry has to follow many different rules and regulators, such as the MIB, TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India), and the Department of Telecommunications. The committee believes there should be one comprehensive law to manage all of this.
The recent bill also includes rules about online streaming services, known as OTT (over-the-top) services. For the first time, the MIB mentioned this new version of the bill. The first draft was shared for public input in November 2023, while a second version was given to select groups in July 2024 without being made public. The second draft had a special watermark to track who had copies.
The new rules aim to include everyone creating news content online, even people not part of traditional media. This means, for example, a person making videos about cooking or taxes on YouTube could also be affected if they have enough followers.
The proposed rules require these content creators to set up a review team to check their work. In August 2024, the government asked groups to return their copies of the draft and mentioned they would release a new version after further discussions.
Leave a Reply