Nueva Delhi: A parliamentary panel has pushed the government to spell a schedule to introduce the draft transmission services (regulation) in Parliament that was archived last year after a fury on certain provisions that sought to regulate the creators of individual content. The suggestion of the Permanent Committee for Communications and Information Technology, chaired by the BJP member, Nishikant Dubey, arrives at the time when the Government plans to celebrate the creators of content at the World Summit of Visual Audio and Entertainment (Waves) in Mumbai from May 1 to 4.
The Committee, in its sixth report presented at the Lok Sabha earlier this week, requested the Ministry of Information and Transmission of the Union “to establish a deadline to complete the entire process (of consultation of the interested parties) and introduces the ‘draft Law on Ladiodifusion Services (Regulation) in the Parliament in the first moment.”
The suggestion also arrives at a time when the Supreme Court has asked the government to “do something” about OTT regulation Hearing the case involving YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia for his comments on the “India’s Got Latent” comedy program.
The Ministry had informed the committee on January 17 that, after completing consultations with the interested parties, extended until October 15, 2024, a new draft of the bill for an interministerial consultation would be prepared and sent.
“After this, the bill will be presented for the consideration of the cabinet. This process is expected to take some time. The committee will be duly informed about the progress of this process,” the ministry told the panel.
The committee, in his recommendations, said that more than three months had passed since the additional time was given to receive comments and suggestions from the general public and interested parties.
He emphasized the need for an integral law and asked the government to inform the progress made with respect to the bill.
“The Committee asks the Ministry to establish a deadline to complete the entire process and enter the ‘Transmission Services Law (regulation) in Parliament as very early,” according to the report.
The transmission bill, 2023, was placed in the public domain on November 10, 2023, inviting points of view, comments and suggestions of the general public and interested parties until December 9, 2023. The deadline was extended later to January 15, 2024.
The second draft was selectively shared in July 2024. It sought to impose obligations of OTT platforms in all news content creators, including those who are not associated with inherited means or registered digital media.
The Government withdrew the second draft in August last year after a violent reaction from interested parties and announced that a new draft would be published after detailed consultations.
