Regulatory issues arising out of convergence of technologies need to be addressed, I & B secretary Amit Khare said on 9th October, seeking suggestions for the regulation of over-the-top platforms and digital media.
Khare, while speaking at the inauguration of a three-day training programme on ‘Emerging Trends in Broadcasting’, said that there is a separate regulator for press, film certification and broadcast, but all these are now converging on a single device.
“In the I & B ministry, we place a lot of importance on technological changes and welcome all ideas, particularly regarding OTT, the growth of digital media and how it needs to be regulated,” Khare said. He also said, the ministry will hold meetings with the film industry and content creators in Bombay for detailed discussions on OTT platforms.
Khare’s comments come in the wake of I & B minister Prakash Javadekar’s observations that OTT platforms, like print and electronic media, should be regulated. Javadekar, however, had pushed for self-regulation and said that the government had no plans, at present, to regulate the medium. Among others, OTT platforms include news portals and web-streaming sites like Hotstar, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
Javadekar had said that though he had suggestions on the content available on these platforms, there was no clarity, yet, on who should monitor the content and on how to regulate the content on the news portals as well as OTT platforms.