MIB OTT accessibility guidelines: Industry bodies say proposals ‘impractical’

The industry players have submitted that the draft guidelines do not account for how digital content is produced, licensed and delivered, nor for the operational complexity

by e4m Desk
Published: Nov 21, 2025 11:07 AM | 1 min read

OTT platforms and industry bodies have raised concerns over the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s draft accessibility guidelines for streaming services.

As per media reports, while the sector supports the government’s objective of improving content accessibility for persons with disabilities, the OTT platforms have said the proposed rules are “impractical, financially onerous, and risk hurting India’s digital video market”.

The ministry issued the Draft Guidelines for Accessibility of Content on Online Curated Content Platforms on October 7.

Read e4m report on MIB’s draft norms for OTT

The proposed framework mandates that streaming platforms include at least one accessibility feature — such as closed captions, audio descriptions, or Indian Sign Language (ISL) interpretation — in all new programming.

The ministry had sought feedback from stakeholders and the public on the draft guidelines.

Netflix, Prime Video, SonyLIV and ZEE5 have submitted that the draft guidelines do not adequately account for how digital content is produced, licensed and delivered, nor for the operational complexity of large, multilingual content pipelines that refresh daily.

Platforms have said the proposed guidelines are “unworkable for daily or fast-turnaround episodes and technically infeasible for their vast legacy libraries”.

They have also said that the timelines are “aggressive”.