MIB clarifies on applicability of FDI Policy of Govt of India for OTT platforms

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) had via a press note dated September 18, 2019 inter alia provided for FDI up to 26% under Government approval route for entities involved in uploading/ streaming of news and current affairs through digital media. A clarification in this regard was subsequently issued by DPIIT vide public communication No.5(4)/2019-FDI Policy dated October 16, 2020.

The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) has since received several representations from Chambers of Commerce and OTT platforms (covered under the IT Digital Media Ethics Code Rules, 2021) seeking clarification as to whether the aforementioned decision would apply to OTT platforms which are hosting digital feed of the news channels. In the representations it has been stated that OTT platforms only provide a platform for carriage of third party news and current affairs content of news channels on ‘as is basis’ without any editorial intervention, and further that OTT platforms are not involved in any aggregation/ curation of the news and current affairs content provided by such channels, but are only hosting the news feed provided by such entities much similar to a DTH or cable service provider.

The matter has been examined in the Ministry. The objective of the decision of the Government vide the aforementioned Press Note is to ensure that entities engaged in the activity of publishing/ curating/ aggregating news and current affairs content and uploading/ streaming the same through digital media would have a FDI limit up to 26% through the Government approval route.

TV News Channels granted permission under the Uplinking and Downlinking Guidelines, 2022 (and the earlier Guidelines of 2005 and 2011) of the MIB and their entities operating the digital news content are already covered by FDI policy of the Central Government. Accordingly, when an OTT platform hosts the digital feed of a TV news channel (granted permission under the extant Guidelines), the stipulation of FDI limit of 26% with Government approval route would not apply to the OTT platform for the mere activity of hosting such feed.

In its notice dated March 10, 2023, the MIB stated, “It is accordingly clarified that when an OTT platform is hosting digital feed of a TV news channel granted permission under the extant Uplinking & Downlinking Guidelines, only as a medium and makes it available to its subscribers/ users, such a OTT platform is not covered under the 26% FDI rule.”