Will Big Brother be watching?

The Broadcasting Bill aims to provide a modern legislative framework for regulating technology. But there are concerns because its design replicates a commandand-control model

- Gautam Bhatia

On November 10, the ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) released into the public domain a draft of the Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, 2023, for the purposes of public consultation. The Broadcasting Bill proposes to alter the regulatory landscape with respect to a range of content, both through the medium of television, and online. Until now, television was regulated by the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act of 1995, which prescribed conditions for uplinking and downlinking, as well as mandatory adherence to a Programme Code and Advertising Code. However, over-the-top (OTT) content (streaming services such as Netflix or Amazon Prime), was not subject to a specific regulatory regime. For a while now, there have been calls to do so; and these calls have often come at the behest of the government. The Broadcasting Bill — according to its stated objectives — is to provide a comprehensive regulatory regime for all forms of broadcasting content from television to OTT. Consequently, it will repeal and replace the Cable Television Networks Act in favour of a single legal framework.

There is, however, a fine line between regulation and State control. While a mandatory requirement of registration with the State as a prerequisite to providing a broadcasting service can, on the one hand, be a simple matter of administrative convenience, depending on the conditions — and the discretion in the hands of the State to deny or withdraw registration — it can also turn into a fetter. From this perspective, there are a few causes for concern with the Broadcasting Bill.