In first signs of industry distress, executives of the three global streaming companies, and India's Viacom18 which runs billionaire Mukesh Ambani's JioCinema app, held a closed-door meeting, where Netflix said the rules would hit customer experience and push production houses to block their content in India, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.
Already, all smoking and alcohol drinking scenes in movies in India's cinemas and on TV, under the law, require health warnings, but so far there were no regulations for the streaming giants, whose content has become increasingly popular. But in India, companies from Netflix to Amazon to Disney, also have popular Hindi content which often shows Bollywood actors smoking, something activists say encourages tobacco use.