Netflix, keen to capitalize on this nascent segment, has now poured $400 million into the nation and gathered 2,5 million useful subscribers. PwC’s consultancy outfit estimates that India’s media and entertainment sector will rise to $2.9 billion by 2024 at a brisk 10.1 per cent rate annually.A business like Netflix would be worried about this rise because indeed a decent chunk of its catalogue will be made out of reach for Indians if the highly censored film industries are used as a benchmark for a code that streaming platforms will have to abide by, including the big daddy of them all, Bollywood.Although, how the I&B Ministry can wade through thousands of films, episodes, and documentaries and affix their ranking or recommend cuts where necessary is beyond me, and this is much more fantastic to consider.
However, curbing entertainment is one kind of topic to grapple with. However, the most troubling trend is the risk that the scythe will also be faced with multimedia reporting.Most television news channels and print media in India are true government lapdogs, afraid of being critical of it. On platforms like thewire.com or scroll.com, which have rubbed the government the wrong way, the only serious news being done is in the digital sphere.Siddharth Vardarajan, formerly head of a national newspaper in India, ironically called The Hindu, has always been in the eyes of the government of Modi. And its named allies in different states.
