There is an ongoing debate in Indonesia about whether to amend the Broadcasting Law in particular to include streaming services that deliver content into Indonesia and which are currently not regulated locally. It is part of a wider plan by the Indonesian governments to exercise some control over foreign digital companies that earn revenue from Indonesian customers but do not trade in Indonesia.
The Broadcast Law discussion is a mix of control over the content but also ensuring more Indonesian content is made and included. Netflix for example shows many Indonesian films. Digital content is also caught under the Ecommerce law (Electronic Information and Transactions Law), and broadcasts are protected under the Copyright Law. So there are regulatory overlaps.
Under the Copyright law, Broadcasters must be Indonesian companies only. The exclusive communication to the public right should cover streaming. But there are instances where the stream is sent to an Indonesian licensee for restreaming. This means the original stream is potentially not a communication to the public and the overseas copyright owner may have limited rights.. Sports broadcasts have a number of technicalities about those that create them which make identifying the specific copyright owner complicated.
The Copyright Law is due for amendment in 2025. The new Indonesian Government took over in October and it is hoped they will review some of the digital copyright provisions.
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