By The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has issued a public notice for compliance with a previous announcement in which Centre had permitted 26% FDI in digital news and services streaming news or current affairs.
The order demands compliance with the FDI norms within a month.
The latest notification facilitates “eligible entities involved in uploading/streaming of news and current affairs through digital media, to comply with the decision of Union Government on 18th September 2019, which had permitted 26% FDI under government approval route”.
The I&B Ministry has laid out the detailed actions to be undertaken by eligible entities to comply with this decision within a month.
In a separate order last week, the government brought OTT platforms such as Netflix as well as news and current affairs content on online platforms under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and also gave it the powers to regulate policies and rules for the digital space.
With the order that is effective now, Information and Broadcasting ministry has the power to regulate policies related to news, audiovisual content and films on online platforms. These include OTT platforms Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+Hotstar as well as homegrown ones like SonyLIV, and digital news websites.
The decision came less than a month after the Supreme Court sought the Centre’s response on a PIL seeking regulation of OTT platforms by an autonomous body.
