“Over the Top” (OTT) platforms came under the ambit of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

• The government has brought “Over the Top” (OTT) platforms or video streaming service providers under the ambit of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

What are OTT platforms?

• OTT, or over-the-top platforms, are audio and video hosting and streaming services which started out as content hosting platforms, but soon branched out into the production and release of short movies, feature films, documentaries and web-series themselves.
• These platforms offer a range of content and use artificial intelligence to suggest users the content they are likely to view based on their past viewership on the platform.
• Most OTT platforms generally offer some content for free and charge a monthly subscription fee for premium content which is generally unavailable elsewhere.
• The premium content is usually produced and marketed by the OTT platform themselves, in association with established production houses which historically have made feature films.

What OTT platforms coming under IB ministry means?

• With the government deciding to bring films and audio-visual programmes made available by online content providers” as well as “news and current affairs content on online platforms”, the first challenge before the OTT platforms would be keeping a check on their content.
• The central government’s move to bring the OTT platforms under the I&B Ministry could also mean that these platforms would have to apply for certification and approval of the content they wish to stream.
• This in itself could give rise to many conflicts as most OTT platforms have content that could otherwise be censored by the certification boards in India.