Netflix, Disney, Amazon May Challenge New Tobacco Warning Rules: Report

Netflix, Amazon, Disney, and JioCinema met on Friday to discuss new rules that would require streaming platforms to display static health warnings during smoking and alcohol scenes.

On Wednesday, the Union Health Ministry mandated anti-tobacco warnings for OTT platforms.

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Streaming platforms including Netflix, Amazon, Disney, and Mukesh Ambani's JioCinema app held a closed-door meeting on Friday to discuss new tobacco warning rules and ways to stall it, reported news agency Reuters. The report citing sources said that OTT giants discussed a possible legal challenge against the new rules amid fears that they will need to edit millions of hours of existing web content.  This comes after the Union Health Ministry on Wednesday mandated anti-tobacco warnings for OTT platforms.

The ministry's notification laid down new rules for anti-tobacco warnings for publishers and said a failure to comply with new rules would lead to strict action against them. Within three months, streaming platforms will have to insert static health warnings during smoking scenes. Also, the government wants at least 50 seconds of anti-tobacco disclaimers, including an audio-visual, at the start and in the middle of each program.

Two sources familiar with the discussions said that executives from Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ Hotstar, as well as Viacom18's JioCinema app, held a closed-door meeting. Netflix said that the new rules would harm the customer experience and force production houses to block their content in India. Indian executives also discussed the possibility of a legal challenge, asserting that other ministries, such as the Ministry of Information Technology and Broadcasting, have jurisdiction over streaming giants, not the Ministry of Health.

The country earlier had health warnings for smoking and alcohol scenes in movies and TV shows. However, there were no regulations for streaming platforms, whose content has become increasingly popular. According to the report, activists have welcomed the new rules, which they say will help to reduce tobacco use in India. The country is the world's second-largest producer of tobacco, and tobacco use is responsible for the deaths of 1.3 million people each year in India.

Streaming giants like Netflix, Amazon, and Disney have a large presence in India. They produce popular Hindi content that often show actors smoking. This has raised concerns among activists, who say that it encourages tobacco use, the report said. 

India is a hot market for streaming services, and executives are concerned about the impact of the new rules. They fear that the rules will lead to higher costs and a decrease in viewership, the news agency further said adding that JioCinema has recently signed multiple content deals with NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. These deals will bring popular shows like "Succession" and "The Office" to JioCinema's platform. Together, the streaming giants have millions of hours of content.