Centre extends discussion on Broadcasting Services Bill, to publish fresh draft

The government on Monday announced that a fresh draft of the proposed Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill will be published. This comes after some alleged provisions of the bill raised concerns among online content creators, who claimed it sought to club them with OTT or digital news broadcasters.

In a statement, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said, "In response, multiple recommendations/ comments/ suggestions were received including from various Associations. Ministry is holding a series of consultations with the stakeholders on the draft bill."

The ministry further said that additional time is being provided to solicit comments and suggestions till October 15. A fresh draft will be published after detailed consultations, it said.

The draft bill was placed in the public domain on November 11, 2023 for consultations. However, the Opposition alleged that recently, a revised version of the draft was "secretly" given to a few select stakeholders. The matter was also raised in the Rajya Sabha by Trinamool Congress MP Jawhar Sircar.

There were several posts on social media which alleged that contents of the alleged revised bill were in



circulation, which invited backlash from a section of content creators.

According to some reports, the revised draft bill seeks to classify Instagram influencers and YouTubers as "digital news broadcasters" to define their userbase. This would require them to seek prior registration with the government to prescribing standards for content evaluation, which sparked concerns over free speech.

It has been reported that these digital news broadcasters will be separate from OTT broadcasting services and registered digital media. The first draft of the bill had already proposed that OTT platforms, which have the freedom to create any kind of content, will be bound by a programme code.

Last week, representatives of DigiPub News India Foundation, an organisation representing more than 90 digital news publishers, and the Editors Guild of India said the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting held closed-door consultations with selective stakeholders and larger discussions with digital media organisations and associations of civil society have so far not taken place.

They had written to the Ministry seeking copies of the draft Bill, but had not received any response.