OTT APPs are the future of Personal Entertainment, Says OTT Forum Convener Flynn Remedios

Mumbai: Speaking at a meeting of OTT App producers, directors and artistes held in Mumbai last week, senior journalist and techno-legal consultant Flynn Remedios said the OTT Apps are the future of Personal Entertainment, as viewers can individually choose what content they wish to view on their high-end mobile phones, which can also be synced with laptops and internet Tv sets. The viewer has complete control over the content and can be viewed on demand as per convenience in complete privacy.

Meanwhile, the recently-formed OTT Film Makers, Artistes & Allied Workers Forum (OFAAWF) also known as the OTT Forum has decided to move the Supreme Court of India for clarity and interpretation on whether provisions of the Information Technology (IT) Act, Obscenity sections of the IPC and other similar sections under the Indecent Representation of Women Act are applicable to content providers of designated Adult OTT platforms wherein the content available is clearly classified by the platform as “A” or Above 18 and requires explicit consent from viewers before it is made available to them.

This follows the announcement of the Guidelines and Rules by the Government of India governing the OTT and Digital Space as well as the recent crackdown by the Mumbai police on various OTT producers like Tv actress Gehana Vasisth who was arrested by the Mumbai police for creating content which was classified as pornography by the law enforcement agencies.

There is a difference between erotica and pornography, all adult content cannot be randomly classified as pornography, Remedios said.

If the State allows APPs to operate and be accessed or viewed by subscribers, then the content providers and crew including actors should not be harassed. Either ban everything and notify the same officially or allow everyone to operate legally within the framework of law, opined Remedios.

Content providers like Gehana Vasisth obtain written consent as well as video consent from the actors and other players involved. They are paid as per industry standards, yet some actors later on go ahead and blackmail the content providers, which is detrimental to the entire industry at large, actor and model Priyanka Martins who is a member of the OTT Forum said.

In other cases, the police take suo moto action against content providers and book them under sections pertaining to the IT Act, Indecent Representation of Women’s Act and sections pertaining to Obscenity of the Indian Penal Code.

Because of 3-4 rotten apples, the entire adult OTT industry is getting a bad name, Martins explained, adding that there should be a registration system for stakeholders so that get-rich-quick or fly-by-night operators cannot take advantage of actors and artistes or even producers and directors.

The Association of Adult OTT content providers and artistes OFAAWF wants directions to be issued to the police that registered adult OTT content providers who create content for an adult audience should not be harassed by law enforcement and booked for sections which are not applicable to them.

To avoid incorrect interpretation of law, legal provisions and harassment by law enforcement agencies and to create a level-playing field for all players, several content creators for OTT (Over The Top) platforms in India have come together to form an association.

Small OTT (Over The Top) producers, film makers, directors actors and allied workers on Monday announced a nationwide association to ‘protect the interests of the industry’ and to ensure that the laws of the land are properly interpreted and not misused.

Named as OTT Film Makers, Artistes & Allied Workers Forum (OFAAWF), the group consisting of more than 90 persons associated with the small OTT industry which caters to private APPs and even individual content providers came together at a meeting held at Oshiwara in suburban Mumbai.

The meeting held on Saturday was attended by about 46 persons – all connected or related to the industry including small OTT producers, directors, actors, cameramen, videographers and co-ordinators.