Author : Brijnandan Singh Bhar & Co
A Guide to Indian Entertainment & Media Laws
India is known for a lot of things including its spices, yogic experiences, undiluted passion for cricket and of course the snake charmers. It is the ultimate destination to eat, pray and love. But India is a lot more than just an exotic tourist destination. It has been one of the fastest growing economies in the past decade, is expected to become the third largest economy by 2030, it is also a part of BRICS, the association for the emerging national economies and is home to one of the most lucrative entertainment industries in the world.
The fact is, India is the second most populous country in the world with over 1.2 billion people, and thus the opportunities and prospects in the entertainment industry, as in other sectors are limitless, and so are constantly explored by Indians and foreign investors alike.
Laws previously did not allow foreign investors to invest in the entertainment and media industry in India. However, the government changed the media and entertainment laws in 1991, due to which many restrictions were removed on foreign media investment, allowing investors from around the world to invest in this Promise Land. The trend, although was slow initially, but the pace has accelerated in recent times due to the rise in economy and media penetration in middle and lower socio-economic classes in the country.
This report offers an in-depth view of the media and entertainment laws in India for those looking to enter the market or simply wish to keep abreast of the developments in the sector.
Indian economy might have had slowed its pace recently, but their need for entertainment has only grown. The entertainment industry comprises of films, music, radio, television, theatre, multimedia and publishing. All these sectors have seen key developments in recent times. Channels like Walt Disney, ESPN, Star, Discovery, BBC have all established subsidiary companies with foreign investments for advertising airtime and content development sales. There have also been foreign investments in English daily newspapers including Business Standard by Financial Times and Hindustan Times by Henderson Global.
Due to the rise in disposable income in recent times, the entertainment and media industry has seen a higher consumer spending too. Indian media industry has come a long way from only having one state owned channel in the nineties to now having more than 400 active channels. Entertainment and media are the fastest growing industries in India in the past two decades, with an expected growth of up to US$20.09 billion by the end of 2013. According to the India Media and Entertainment Industry 2013 report published by East West Relations Limited, the media economy will remain in high growth as compared to the overall economy due to growing literacy and relatively improved affluence in smaller cities and rural areas.
The digitisation of television, the rise in FM licenses for radio, broadband connectivity and the growth of Smartphones all indicate towards a stronger media and entertainment industry. And if you intend to become a part of it, you will need to get your facts and laws right!
Entertainment laws for the most part overlap the conventional intellectual property laws but also include issues relating to labor law, employment law, securities law and other similar issues.
Following are the sub-divisions of entertainment law and their regulations:
As elsewhere, film laws in India cover finances, option agreements, title issues, agreements with film directors, actors, screenwriters, production designers, composers, etc. Films are the most significant form of entertainment in the country. With around 800 films per year, India is among the largest film producing nations in the world. The films are produced in Hindi, English and other regional languages including Punjabi, Telugu, Malayalam and Bengali among others. According to reports, around 23 million Indians go to the cinema to watch a film each day.
Apart from the copyright and intellectual property laws, films also have to go through the Censorship Board to ensure that the film falls under the Information Technology Rules 2011. Under these rules objectionable content includes material that “threatens the unity, integrity, defence, security or sovereignty of India, friendly relations with foreign states or public relations.”
Although the Constitution of India offers “freedom of expression”, however, there are some restrictions in place in order to maintain and ensure religious and communal harmony. The censorship laws not only apply to films but are also applied on other entertainment and media sectors. Following are some of the laws that control the Film Media in the country:
This Act ensures that the film is fit for public exhibition. It contains regulations under which the Central Board of Film Certification or the Censor Board as it is generally known, examines and certifies the film for public viewing.
This Act lays down the exclusive rights to original dramatic, literary, artistic, musical work, cinematographic films or sound recordings to be commercially exploit as per the requirements of the owner of the subject material.
This Act safeguards the rights of those employed in the industry by imposing restrictions and certain obligations on theatre owners and motion picture producers regarding the conditions of service of the former.
Under this Act, the police are authorized to regulate the exhibition of films in Marashtra.
Apart from these Acts there are other Acts like Bombay Cinemas Act 1953, which offers a scheme for state licensing for places where motion pictures are exhibited, and the Bombay Entertainments Duty Act, 1923, which levies taxes on the public exhibition of motion pictures.
These laws include talent agreements which are to be determined by musicians and composers, producer agreements and copyrights. These laws may also include digital preservation and of course are required to be approved by the censor board. The musical work is required to be written down in order to be liable for copyright protection. Words or actions intended to be performed, spoken or sung with the music are not included in copyrights.
These include co-production agreements, rental agreements, performance rights and other copyright and intellectual property issues.
Television and Radio laws include regulatory issues, broadcast licensing, mechanical licenses and other intellectual property issues. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has established the Broadcasting Code which ensures the following:
These laws include author agreements, models and advertising rights and intellectual property related issues. Following are some of the most prominent laws past regarding the press:
This Act regulates the prices charged for newspapers in order to prevent unfair competition and so that the newspapers have complete opportunity for freedom of expression. Under this act a “daily newspaper” means a newspaper which is at least published six days a week and a “newspaper” refers to a printed periodical containing news or comments on news that appears at intervals of no longer than seven days. These laws were revised under the Act 36 of 1961.
According to this Act, books and newspaper publishers are required to deliver a copy, free of cost, of every published book to the National Library of Calcutta and a copy each to three selected public libraries specified by the Central Government.
This Act was first introduced during the 1962 Emergency proclamation. The Act largely restricted the Freedom of the Press due to the unrest prevailing in India because of the war against China. The Act prevented prejudicial reports and prohibition of publishing or printing any matter in the newspaper, most importantly those in relation to military/defense operations.
This Act states the minimum standards of service conditions for journalists and other newspaper employees.
This Act allows the Government to change or make rules for the prohibition of publication and printing of any newspaper, document or book prejudicial to the Civil Defense.
This Act reconstituted the Press Council (post 1976) to improve and maintain the standards of news agencies and newspapers in the country.
This Act regulates the advertisements for medications and other drugs to ensure that medication, whether for internal or external use for humans as well as animals. These advertisements include wrappers, labels, circulars, documents, or any other means of production which includes newspapers, television, radio and other forms of media and entertainment channels.
These are some of the important Acts that regulate the print media in India.
Multimedia includes production, intellectual property, licensing, and development and Information Technology law. Cyber crimes have also led to internet regulations and cyber laws which are in place to prevent activities like spamming, e-mail bombing, email spamming, worm and/or virus attacks, Trojan attacks, hacking and unauthorized access and other similar activities. Pornography, defamation, online gambling and investment frauds are also covered under the cyber laws of India.
This Act is implemented so that the operation of the economic system does not concentrate the economic power to a single or common detriment. These include prohibition of restrictive and monopolistic trade practices and control of monopolies in different sectors, including entertainment and media.
Media and entertainment has grown by leaps and bounds in recent times and it is expected to only grow further. Potential game changers in media and entertainment are speculated to be advertising spending in print and television, increasing penetration of satellite television and cable, mobile and internet penetration and of course the digitization of media. And these game changers are bound to bring with them, revised, updated and new laws and regulations. Hence, in order to remain in the loop, you will need to constantly update yourself with information on media and information laws in the country as well as the rest of the world.
Currently, India is just the 14th entertainment and media market in the world; and contributes around 1% of its GDP. Existing television penetration in the country is around 83 percent with locations like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore having cable and satellite in around 90 percent of households. This penetration is likely to increase even further in the coming years.
550 million people in India are under 25 years of age, and the increasing education levels, growing number of youth becoming tech-savvy, and lower government and personal debt levels, are all major contributing factors to ensure the boom of the entertainment industry in the foreseeable future and presumably even after. Media and entertainment industry in India is not only promising fruitful outcomes for investors at home, but has also been lucrative for investors from the rest of the world. The government too has seen the potential and has been changing its rules to accommodate foreign investments within the industry.
Regulations and policy initiatives like the liberalizing of FDI have been undertaken by the government to facilitate further growth in the entertainment and media sector. Digitization has been made mandatory and is considered a key policy measure which is expected to increase the television sector’s growth and profitability in the future.
Although entertainment and media in the country offer freedom of speech, the regulations have been kept in place to ensure peace and harmony in the country. Laws in India, as in elsewhere in Asia and the world are pretty much the same. They include copyright, intellectual property, restrictions on advertisement content, restrictive trade policies, workers and employment laws and other ownership and exhibition rights.
