NEW DELHI: The government has asked OTT platforms to make their shows easier to watch and hear. A new set of accessibility guidelines from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting requires streaming services to add features for viewers with hearing and visual impairments.

The move follows the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, and is meant to bring streaming closer to the promise of equal access. In simple terms, if a film or series is coming to an OTT platform, it should not arrive empty-handed. It should come with captions for those who cannot hear well and audio descriptions for those who cannot see clearly.

The guidelines ask platforms to provide at least one accessibility feature each for hearing-impaired and visually-impaired viewers. That could be closed captions, open captions, Indian Sign Language interpretation, or audio description. The aim is to make content understandable without turning the viewing experience into a technical chore.

There is, however, a long runway. Platforms have up to thirty six months from the date of the guidelines to ensure that all newly released content carries these accessibility features. Older titles in their libraries are not under strict timelines, but companies are encouraged to add features gradually.

The rules also go beyond the show itself. User interfaces, whether on mobile apps, smart TVs or websites, must be designed to work with assistive technologies. Accessibility labels such as CC for captions, AD for audio description and ISL for sign language must be displayed clearly so viewers know what to expect before pressing play.

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Some content types get a free pass. Live events, music, podcasts, and short form content like ads are exempt because of practical challenges in real time captioning and description.

OTT publishers will also need to file accessibility conformance reports. The first report is due three years from now, followed by quarterly updates. Complaints from viewers will follow a three tier system, starting with the platform itself, moving to self-regulatory bodies, and finally reaching a government monitoring committee if needed.

For the streaming industry, the message is clear. Accessibility is no longer a nice extra tucked away in settings. It is fast becoming part of the main feature, and in a country where streaming audiences run into the hundreds of millions, that could make a very big difference to who gets to enjoy the show.

NEW DELHI: If 2025 was India’s year to make waves, the ministry of information and broadcasting (I&B) was its chief surfboard maker. Prime minister Narendra Modi’s call to “create in India, create for the world” wasn’t just ministerial hot air—it triggered a tsunami of creative dealmaking that swept from Melbourne to Madrid, generating Rs 4,334 crores in potential business discussions and putting Indian creators on every continent’s radar.

The centrepiece was Waves 2025, the World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit, which drew over 90 countries, 10,000 delegates, and roughly 1 lakh punters through its doors. Modi himself dropped by to glad-hand young creators, describing the event as a “wave of culture, creativity and universal connectivity”—and for once, the hyperbole wasn’t entirely unwarranted.

The summit’s CreatoSphere platform, which sounds like something from a sci-fi novel but is actually a hub for film, VFX, animation, gaming, and digital media, launched the Create in India Challenges. Season one attracted over 1 lakh entries from more than 60 countries across 33 categories. Winners weren’t just handed certificates and sent packing—they performed at Melbourne, exhibited at Tokyo Game Show, and pitched at Toronto International Film Festival. I&B minister Ashwini Vaishnav handed out gongs to 150 creators, cementing the government’s commitment to nurturing what it calls the “creative economy.”

WaveX, the startup arm, proved equally industrious. It coaxed over 200 startups into its embrace, enabled 30 to pitch to Microsoft, Amazon, and Lumikai, and somehow got two of its charges—VYGR News and VIVA Technologies—onto Shark Tank India, where they presumably dodged the usual mauling. The initiative’s KalaaSetu and BhashaSetu challenges, focused on AI-driven video generation and real-time translation respectively, attracted over 100 startups and picked ten for collaboration with government media units.

Waves Bazaar, the “craft-to-commerce” global e-marketplace, went on a roadshow between August and December, hitting 12 international events across four continents and four domestic jamborees. The numbers are eye-watering: over 9,000 B2B meetings, 10 memoranda of understanding signed, three more proposed, and the launch of creative corridors with Japan, Korea, and Australia. The ministry claims Rs 4,334 crores in potential deals—potential being the operative word, though in India’s booming content market, optimism often precedes reality by only a few quarters.

On the bricks-and-mortar front, the Indian Institute of Creative Technology opened its temporary Mumbai campus in July with Rs 391.15 crores in budgetary support. The public-private partnership with Ficci and CII has enrolled over 100 students across 18 courses, incubated eight startups, and signed memoranda with Google, Meta, Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, and WPP—a who’s who of tech giants keen to tap India’s creative reserves. A permanent 10 acre campus at Film City, Goregaon, complete with an immersive AR/VR/XR studio, is in the works.

Elsewhere, the ministry set up a Live Events Development Cell to position India’s concert economy as a growth driver. A single-window clearance system is being built on the India Cine Hub platform to expedite permissions for fire, traffic, and municipal approvals—addressing the red-tape nightmares that have long plagued event organisers. Meanwhile, an inter-ministerial committee is tackling digital piracy, that perennial thorn in the creative economy’s side.

State broadcaster Doordarshan snagged the Election Commission’s media award for voter awareness during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, presented by the president on National Voters’ Day. Community radio added 22 new stations, bringing the total to 551, with workshops and a national sammelan held during Waves to strengthen local broadcasting.

The 56th International Film Festival of India in Goa screened over 240 films from 81 countries, threw in the country’s first AI Film Festival, and staged a grand parade through Panaji that turned the event into a street-level celebration. The accompanying Waves Film Bazaar drew over 2,500 delegates from 40-plus countries and showcased 320 projects—making it one of South Asia’s largest film markets.

The Central Board of Film Certification modernised too, launching a multilingual certification module that allows multiple language versions under a single application, and mandating 50 per cent women’s participation on examining and revising committees. Digital signatures replaced wet ink, and certificates became downloadable—small victories in the fight against bureaucratic inertia.

India’s I&B  ministry ended 2025 having turned content creation into something resembling an industrial policy. Whether Rs 4,334 crores in “potential” business materialises remains to be seen, but the ministry has built the infrastructure, corralled the startups, and put Indian creators on international stages. As  Modi might say, the wave has been ridden. Now comes the hard part: keeping the momentum going when the cameras stop rolling.

MUMBAI: The Centre has inched closer to making India’s streaming universe easier to watch, hear and enjoy for everyone. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has released draft guidelines that aim to standardise accessibility on OTT platforms, ensuring that viewers with hearing and visual impairments are no longer left out of the country’s digital entertainment boom.

Issued on 7 October and now open for public consultation, the draft rules arrive with constitutional and global backing. Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L. Murugan told the Rajya Sabha that the framework draws from Article 14, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. It also mirrors the Code of Ethics under the IT Rules, 2021.

At the heart of the proposal is a two-phase rollout of mandatory accessibility tools such as same-language closed captions and audio descriptions. The ministry said penalties and enforcement steps will be shaped after the consultation, but compliance will be tracked through progressive targets for OTT content libraries.

Parliament was also reminded that the broadcast sector has walked this path before. In 2019, the government notified accessibility standards for television programming, starting with Prasar Bharati and eventually extending them to private broadcasters.

With OTT viewership climbing across urban and small-town India, the draft rules attempt to bring streaming giants in step with a wider vision of inclusive media. The government hopes the move will help millions of Indians with disabilities press play without barriers.

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