TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Court rejects petition to classify OTT firms as broadcasting media
Over-the-top (OTT) service providers are regulated by several laws, the Constitutional Court argued in its ruling.
Change Size
Constitutional Court building in Jakarta (kompas.com/File)
T
he Constitutional Court has rejected a judicial review petition of the Broadcasting Law filed by private television stations RCTI and iNews TV to establish an equal situation for broadcasting media and over-the-top (OTT) digital content and service providers.
The court rejected the petition, stating that the law did not hinder the public from exercising their rights to conduct business freely. Constitutional Court chief justice Anwar Usman read out the ruling during a hearing on Thursday, as reported by kompas.com.
In their judicial review petition filed in September last year, the two television stations argued that Article 1 of the law discriminated against broadcast media. The law defines broadcasting as the transmission of information via radio frequency through the air, cable or other media.
The plaintiffs argued that OTT companies that distributed digital content and services through the internet remained relatively unregulated. They argued that a redefinition of broadcast media was required so that digital content and service providers may become subject to the same laws that bind traditional media.
In its ruling, Constitutional Court justices argued that the OTT companies were regulated under several laws, including the Pornography Law, the Copyright Law, the Trade Law, the Criminal Code, the Press Law and the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law.
“[These laws] regulate possible violations [committed through] OTT content. [There are also] other sectoral laws that carry administrative or criminal sanctions,” Justice Enny Nurbaningsih said.
