India investigating Netflix for visa violations and racial discrimination

by Aditya Kalra and Krishn Kaushik, Reuters

India is investigating the business practices of streaming giant Netflix's local operations, including allegations of visa violations and racial discrimination, according to a government email sent to a former executive. 

The details of India's investigation were included in a 20 July email, reviewed by Reuters, which was written by a home ministry official to Netflix's former director of business and legal affairs for India, Nandini Mehta, who left the company in 2020.

"This is regarding visa and tax violations concerns regarding the business practices of Netflix in India," wrote Indian official Deepak Yadav from the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) of the home ministry in New Delhi.

"We have received certain details in this regard with respect to the stated company's conduct, visa violation, illegal structures, tax evasion and other malpractices including incidents of racial discrimination that company has been engaged in while conducting its business in India," he added.

In an emailed statement, Mehta said she is pursuing a lawsuit in the United States against Netflix for alleged wrongful termination as well as racial and gender discrimination - charges the company denies. 

Mehta said she welcomed the Indian investigation and hopes the authorities make their findings public, but did not elaborate on the allegations made by the government. Yadav declined to comment, saying he was not authorized to speak to media.

The FRRO and India's home ministry did not respond to Reuters queries.

A Netflix spokesperson said the company was "unaware of an investigation by the Indian government".

The Indian official's email shows growing scrutiny of Netflix in India, where it has roughly 10 million users and which it considers a growth market where companies target affluent people in the nation of 1.4 billion people.

Over the years, the streaming giant has developed more local content featuring Bollywood actors.

It has also often faced heat in India over its content deemed insensitive by some users. This month, it was forced to add new disclaimers to an Indian series about a plane hijack after social media outrage and government anger over what they said was Muslim hijackers being shown as Hindus.

Seeking documents, US lawsuit

While it is known that Netflix has since 2023 faced an Indian tax demand - which it is challenging - the existence of a broader investigation into allegations including visa compliance and racial discrimination has not been previously reported.

The Indian government's email did not elaborate which agencies are looking at issues concerning Netflix. 

The FRRO works closely with home ministry's Intelligence Bureau, the domestic intelligence agency, and is the main agency looking into foreigners' visa compliance and permissions to visit so-called "sensitive" regions.

Mehta worked at the company's Los Angeles and Mumbai offices from April 2018 to April 2020, her LinkedIn profile shows. The Indian government email asked her to provide "details/documents" as she was a former legal executive of the company.

In 2021, Mehta sued Netflix in Los Angeles County Superior Court in California for alleged wrongful termination and racial and gender discrimination, among other things, U.S. court filings show.

Netflix has in U.S. court denied "each and every allegation" and said in its statement that Mehta was fired for repeatedly using her corporate credit card for tens of thousands of dollars in personal expenses.

Mehta said she will "continue to fight for justice." Her case is set for a status hearing on Monday in Los Angeles.

What South Africa's viewers have been asking for is now happening in India: Pick and pay only for the individual pay-TV channels you want.

A quiet but dramatic change is coming to India with something that South Africa's pay-TV subscribers have been clamouring for: From 1 February India's satellite pay-TV customers will get to pick and only pay for the TV channels they want - although there are some catches.

The idea or hope is that pay-TV subscribers in India will be paying less for their monthly pay-TV subscription bill when they only choose the TV channels they want and pay for those.

That, however, might not necessarily be the case and the regulatory move is more about improving "openness and transparency" about the price of pay-TV services - something that the change will do, than making pay-TV subscriptions cheaper.

According to reports, in a move that will have a far-reaching impact for pay-TV viewers and pay-TV operators in India, the country's regulator is forcing all pay-TV companies to publish prices of individual pay-TV channels, and to allow pay-TV consumers to pick only the channels they individually want, and to then only pay for those.

In Canada a similar regulatory move by the CRTC in 2016 was an epic failure when that country's broadcasting regulator ordered pay-TV companies to provide consumers with a limited bundle of main TV channels, and in 2017 ordered them to make an option for individual pick-and-pay TV channels available.

Since the introduction of the so-called a-la-carte option instead of the so-called bundling of channels into pay-TV packages, Canada's pay-TV subscriptions have been in decline (further fuelled by the growth in video streaming services like the arrival of Netflix).

India's broadcasting regulator, is now mandating similar sweeping changes from 1 February in that country - something that South African pay-TV subscribers have also asked for, but that companies like Naspers' MultiChoice (that runs the DStv and GOtv services in South Africa and across sub-Saharan Africa) have said is not possible to do or to provide.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has not just ordered that country's pay-TV operators to provide the pick-and-pay of individual TV channels as a new system option to existing and potential pay-TV subscribers, but has also ordered pay-TV companies to list upfront the price of every TV channel.

TRAI is going even further and although India is a free-market consumer economy, has ordered a cap on the maximum price per TV channel a pay-TV operator will be allowed to charge - Rs19 or R3.78 per month.

TRAI says the new pick-and-pay system for the TV channels pay-TV users want will "free" viewers in India from having to pay for a specific set of TV channels in a bouquet or package in the way that MultiChoice, China's StarTimes/StarSat, Deukom and others in South Africa and Africa have sold traditional pay-TV subscriptions.

There are several small print caveats, however.

India's pay-TV subscribers should get ready for the listicle bill. Similar to hospital, hotel and restaurant bills, India's pay-TV subscribers are going to hit pay-TV subscribers with itemised billing.

It does mean bigger transparency for every purchased line-item with customers able to see exactly what they're charged for but also the opportunity for pay-TV operators to add additional charges for items and services that previously were lumped in somewhat for "free" or as part of an overall cost.

For instance: It won't be possible to pick and pay for just one TV channel. Every pay-TV subscriber will pay from the outset for a basic package of 100 standard definition (SD) free-to-air TV channels. Those 100 channels will come with a base cost called a monthly "connection fee".

It also means that receiving free-to-air channels through pay-TV in India will no longer be free.

Beyond the basic 100-channels bundle, pay-TV subscribers will be able to pick and add channels individually, each at a different cost, but no channel allowed to be more expensive that the maximum fee for an individual channel set by the regulator.

After reports that pay-TV costs will rise, TRAI in a press release admits that India's pay-TV subscribers will pay less but that it's from the understanding that a pay-TV household will also have and want a reduced number of TV channels. TRAI says consumers will pay less because they will decide to have less TV channels.

TRAI worked on a model of 50 TV channels, saying "more than 90% of TV homes view/flip 50 or lesser number of channels".

"Therefore any analysis that keeps 250 or more channels for pricing of monthly tariffs, creates a false impression."

"If a consumer chooses the channels which he really watches, then he will be paying a lesser amount compared to what he's paying as of now."

Will watching pay-TV in India get costlier? Well, not from the beginning, and not immediately, and also not if a consumer chooses only a few channels. Pay-TV operators are already working on offering and building in steep discounts to maintain current pricing levels and to prevent any bill shock during and after the switch-over.

But over time - and only time will tell - once heavy discounts expire or are phased out, monthly pay-TV bills in India could possibly increase. Consumers who also opt for a lot of TV channels will pay more.

Also to keep in mind is that the administration systems and admin costs of running and implementing numerous different customer channel choices, as well as paying for channel carriage agreements in order to have those potential channels available as a choice for potential picking by consumers, will add a big financial burden to pay-TV operators' operating costs bottom-line.

These are costs that pay-TV companies, like any business in the business of making a profit for shareholders, will pass on to customers.

DAILY TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read from TVwithThinus - 22 February 2017.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read, and that you should too:

■ "The SABC's coverage of Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation 2017 address analysed.
Media show The Listening Post on Al Jazeera (DStv 406 / StarSat 257) looks at how the SABC and the Guptas The New Age Breakfast Briefing on SABC2's Morning Live the day after the speech was covered.

For instance: Al Jazeera finds that Leanne Manas throws president Jacob Zuma softball questions - that is until the show switches away from SABC2 (viewers) and continues to only be broadcast on MultiChoice's DStv on the SABC News (DStv 404) channel catering to pay-TV audiences.

Now suddenly "Peter Ndoro asks much tougher questions" when a much smaller TV audience is watching.


■ Television graveyard.
Millions of old TV sets are dumped and abandoned in massive warehouses across America - and the hard manual labour involved to break down and destroy or recycle old TV sets.

■ Second season of Showtime's Billions getting "a big promotional push" as if it's a new show.
In South Africa on DStv, not so much.

■ Lovely.
Matt LeBlanc eats horse penis in the new upcoming season of Top Gear starting on 8 March at 20:00 on BBC Brit (DStv 120).


■ Alberton school furious over eNCA (DStv 403) story it slams as a false report.
Marais Viljoen High School (MVHS) considering taking eNCA and eNuus on kykNET (DStv 144) to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) after unsubstantiated, slanderous report and the apparent failure to ask the right people for comment.


■ Russia's president Vladimir Putin is obsessed with television.
Specifically in watching to see how different TV channels cover him.


■ Court papers reveal how Botswana Television (BTV) got rid of its head of news in an election year.
Koketso Joshua Ntopolelang wants his job as head of TV news and current affairs at Botswana's state broadcaster back; shows court how he was allegedly purged from BTV and moved to another government department because he could allegedly "not be trusted" during an election year in Botswana.


■ New Zealand TV is trashing up current affairs in prime time.
Strange and trashy chit-chat as actuality programming instead of news.

■ Sky News (DStv 402) anchor Dermot Murnaghan warns
that the TV news at 22:00 on British television can't survive due to falling viewership.

■ Cameroon viewers treated to TV fight.
After last week's Egypt on-set brouhaha, in Cameroon on Sunday novelist Calixthe Beyala created an "incident close to barbarism and savagery" in an on-set clash.

■ CNBC Africa (DStv 410) opens a new studio in Rwanda.
Who knew? Apparently the ABN Group running the business TV channel on MultiChoice's DStv platform opened a new studio in Rwanda's Kigali Convention Centre. Of course there wasn't even a basic press release or statement to the media.

■ Japan gives money to improve Malawi television.
Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) gets millions from Japan to improve its MBCTV broadcasting equipment in Blantyre.

■ Unnamed Indian TV anchor caught as a prostitute.
Allegedly used her good looks to become involved in prostitution at a guest house in Hyderabad; police reprimanded her for illegal activities and "advised her to pursue her anchoring career professionally".

■ A second golden age for TV news channels in America?
Viewership soars thanks to The Lorax Donald Trump.

■ The SABC has now implemented the Scisys' dira! and MusicMaster systems.
New production and playout systems used by 19 of the SABC's radio stations. Of course it's hopefully not being held together by sticky tape in the rundown SABC studios.

■ Script for final episode of The Vampire Diaries is so brutal ...
it made actor Paul Wesley cry.

DAILY TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read from TVwithThinus - 10 February 2017.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read, and that you should too:

■ 66% of Indians admit they've watched illegally downloaded TV content.
Two thirds of Indians say they've watched pirated content although 71% say they know its illegal.

■ American breakfast show struggles to "produce" its presenters.
Former producer explains the never-ending mistakes Good Morning America's producers are making, from camera angles and guests to not letting the presenters be themselves.


■ Malawi's communications regulator wants to expand the African country's TV studio capacity.
With 25 TV stations, Malawi is struggling in meeting local TV content requirements because of a lack of basically everything and critical thinking skills. (Perhaps South Africa's Hlaudi Motsoeneng can go help?)


■ The "lost" season 8 of Star Trek: Deep Space 9 and the science fiction show's secret history.
 DS9 writer reunite for a new documentary, What We Left Behind: Looking Back at Star Trek Deep Space Nine, detailing what the 8th season would have been about, what the first season 8 episode would be like, complete with interviews with the cast and crew.


■ Why the offices of Nigeria's CoreTV pay-TV broadcaster was sealed last week.
Meanwhile the office was broken into and broadcasting and other equipment stolen.

■ Creator of new drama series Legion on FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131) explains ...
what's going on with the confusing first episode.

■ In Kenya consumers are ditching TV for online despite the high cost of data.
And advertisers are leaving television and following them there.

■ Meanwhile, 2 years after the Kenyan government shut down analogue terrestrial broadcasting, a whopping 1.5 million Kenyans now have no access to TV because they don't have digital terrestrial television (DTT) because set-top boxes (STBs) are too expensive.

■ Sir David Attenborough has a snail named after him.
He's the narrator of Planet Earth II on BBC Earth (DStv 184).

■ Bloomberg Television (DStv 411 / StarSat 264) launches new hourlong show Daybreak: Australia.
Betty Liu in New York and Haidi Lun in Sydney are anchoring and South Africans can watch it at midnight.

■ MultiChoice Namibia to upgrade its existing education centres at schools.
The pay-TV platform will do improvements over the next 3 years at its existing MultiChoice Resource Centres across Namibia.

■ Animation show Pat the Dog coming to Boomerang (DStv 302).
Turner International has picked up the show.

■ What do you not get and is missing from TV channels in Uganda?
Weather reports! Why are local TV stations in Uganda not doing weather forecasts?

■ TV team from Swedish SVT broadcaster sentenced to community work after convicted of human smuggling.
Reporter Fredrik Onnevall, his cameraman and interpreter brought a 15-year old refugee boy from Syria to Sweden in 2015.

■ Viacom is keeping its latest TV shows away from streaming services.
Viacom says it won't be undercutting pay-TV operators by making its new TV shows available to people who don't pay for pay-TV.

■ Swaziland's trashy public broadcaster, STVA, has been embroiled in lurid allegations of corruption, mismanagement and scandal for months.
Amidst rot at Swazi TV, the suspended CEO recently threw out the finance head. Add staff being unpaid and paid late for month, love affairs the CEO admitted to on live TV, the hiring of relatives, buying bad content, business class travel to Europe for studies with no qualifications, irregular appointments, and the use of company vehicles for personal use.

Meanwhile Swaziland's government, is banning the public from knowing what's in a government inquiry report into the struggling broadcaster, with the ministry of information and communication saying the inquiry's report will be kept secret from Swazis. And sadly even the PR person at STVA appears to be incompetent.

■ Some people are cancelling their Netflix subscriptions over trailer for a new series.
Dear White People sparks outrage as Netflix users say they're cancelling their subscriptions. Producer says he wants the unseen in the culture to be seen.

■ How Netflix finds your happy binging place.
What you watch causes algorithms to put you in one of "1 300 distinct taste communities".

■ How television has taken on new meaning in Donald Trump's America.
From The Young Pope to The Man in the High Castle, from Scandal (The Fixer) to The Handmaid's Tale and South Park, American TV shows are now viewed through the additional filter of the belligerent Donald Trump being America's president.