TV body Indian Broadcasting Foundation includes OTT, forms self-regulatory council

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The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), which represents the television broadcasting industry, soon will be renamed as Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation (IBDF) in order to bring under its ambit over-the-top (OTT) players.

The IBF has formed a Digital Media Content Regulatory Council (DMCRC), a self-regulatory body which is formed as per the mandate of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

The industry-led Self-Regulatory Body (SRB) for digital OTT platforms is a second-tier mechanism at the appellate level, similar to Broadcast Content Complaint Council (BCCC).

For the self-regulatory body, Justice (Retd.) Vikramjit Sen has been appointed Chairman. The council also includes national award-winning filmmaker Nikkhil Advani; Deepak Dhar, CEO and founder, Banijay Group; artist, filmmaker and writer Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari; and creative writer and director Tigmanshu Dhulia.

The other two members from the Online Curated Content Providers (OCCPs) include Ashok Nambisan, General Counsel, Sony Pictures Pvt. Ltd, and Mihir Rale, Chief Regional Counsel, Star and Disney India.

IBF so far has received confirmation from broadcast-owned OTT players including Disney+ Hotstar, ZEE5, SonyLIV, Voot, Sun NXT, Discovery+, Jio TV, and Jio Cinema to join the self-regulatory body DMCRC.

In addition, the foundation has sent out invites to OTT players including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, MX Player, Eros Now, and ALTBalaji among others.

Commenting on the appointment of the committee for DMCRC, K Madhavan, President, IBF, said, “I look forward to working with the Council whose mandate is to ensure freedom of expression of the Indian creative industry as well as help the discerning audience of the OTT platforms to have unhindered access to world-class and differentiated content.  This is a historical and win-win moment for all the stakeholders i.e. the M&E industry, the policymakers and the subscribers of the OTT platforms."