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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →India’s July 2025 action targeted 25 niche streaming services, including Ullu and ALTT, after the government accused them of distributing obscene, sexually explicit or otherwise unlawful content. The action was primarily an effort to block or disable public access—not proof that every company permanently disappeared from every device, network or app store.
Some of the affected services had substantial commercial reach. ALTT, for example, reported 10.6 lakh subscriptions sold, more than 160 million views and approximately 5.8 million hours watched during the 2024–25 financial year. Those figures do not mean 160 million unique viewers, but they show why obscure mobile-first platforms had become significant enough to attract regulatory attention.
What India actually blocked
In July 2025, India ordered access restrictions against 25 streaming services. The group reportedly included:
- ALTT, formerly ALTBalaji
- Ullu
- Big Shots App
- Desiflix
- Boomex
- NeonX VIP
- Navarasa Lite
- Gulab App
- Kangan App
- Bull App
- ShowHit
- Jalva App
- Wow Entertainment
- Look Entertainment
- HitPrime
- Fugi
- Feneo
- ShowX
- Sol Talkies
- Adda TV
- HotX VIP
- Hulchul App
- MoodX
- Triflicks
- Mojflix
The list and the scope of enforcement should be understood as a snapshot of the 2025 directive, not a permanent registry. Services can change names, domains, ownership structures and distribution channels.
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Reporting by TechCrunch described the action as affecting websites, apps and associated social-media accounts. In practical terms, enforcement can involve internet-service providers blocking domains, app stores removing listings, social networks restricting promotional accounts, and intermediaries responding to government orders.
That is why “banned” can be misleading. An app may remain installed on a phone after it is removed from a store. A website may be blocked by one provider but remain reachable on another network. A replacement domain or mirror may appear after an original URL is restricted. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s later wording—platforms “disabled for public access”—more accurately describes the administrative result.
Which legal concerns did the government cite?
The government said the services were linked to obscene, vulgar or sexually explicit material and cited several legal provisions, including Sections 67 and 67A of the Information Technology Act, Section 294 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act.
These are government allegations and enforcement grounds, not a statement that every company on the list was convicted by a court. The legal assessment can differ by platform, programme and specific piece of content.
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Why were largely unknown apps attracting viewers?
India’s streaming market is large enough to support many narrow, fast-moving services alongside global platforms and major domestic broadcasters. Smaller apps often compete through a combination of:
- Low-cost subscriptions or short-duration passes.
- Mobile-first interfaces and lightweight video delivery.
- Hindi and regional-language programming.
- Short, sensationalised serials produced on rapid schedules.
- Free episodes, previews or freemium access designed to convert viewers into paying customers.
- Aggressive promotion through social networks and messaging channels.
- Content aimed at audiences that feel underserved by family-oriented or more tightly curated mainstream platforms.
These characteristics do not apply identically to every service. Some platforms may depend mainly on subscriptions, while others use advertising, bundles, third-party distribution or mixed models. Their common advantage is specialization: a small service does not need to attract the entire Indian streaming market if it can repeatedly convert a narrow audience on inexpensive mobile plans.
How much were people actually watching?
The best public evidence comes from ALTT, because its parent company, Balaji Telefilms, reports operational figures in company filings.
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsIn its 2024–25 annual report, Balaji said ALTT recorded:
- 10.6 lakh subscriptions sold during the financial year.
- More than 160 million views.
- Approximately 5.8 million hours watched.
- More than 172 shows hosted during the year.
The company’s annual report also gives ALTT subscription revenue of ₹18.89 crore. A separate results release reported ₹20.26 crore for subscription revenue. Because the figures come from different company disclosures and may reflect different accounting bases or reporting classifications, they should not be treated as interchangeable.
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Balaji management separately said ALTT had more than 2 million active subscribers. That is a different metric from 10.6 lakh subscriptions sold during one financial year, and the date and definition are not identical. It should therefore be attributed to management rather than presented as an independently audited current user count. The relevant investor-call transcript contains the claim.
Other audience evidence is weaker. Similarweb figures cited by TechCrunch showed approximately 1.8 million visits to Ullu in India and 696,200 visits to ALTT during the comparison period. A visit is not a unique viewer, subscriber or monthly active user. Likewise:
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- Subscriptions sold are not necessarily unique paying individuals.
- Downloads do not establish active use.
- Hours watched do not reveal how many people generated them.
The careful conclusion is that at least some blocked platforms had large commercial audiences. The evidence does not support saying that all 25 services individually had millions of subscribers.
The wider Indian streaming market
The affected apps represented only a small and relatively opaque part of India’s overall OTT economy. A government release citing the FICCI–EY Media & Entertainment Industry Report 2025 estimated video-subscription revenue of approximately ₹9,200 crore in 2024 and between 9.5 crore and 11.8 crore people paying for streaming content.
Those numbers cover the full paid OTT sector, not the blocked services. They nevertheless explain the opportunity. In a market with tens of millions of paying streaming users, even a niche platform can become commercially meaningful without becoming internationally famous.
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The figures also help explain why brand recognition is a poor measure of reach. A service may be almost invisible to international technology audiences while being familiar to a specific language, age or interest group in India.
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Why blocking is technically difficult
Access restrictions are an ongoing contest rather than a single switch. A government order may make a service harder to reach, but it does not necessarily eliminate the business behind it.
Common enforcement problems include:
- New domains: a service can attempt to replace a blocked web address.
- App persistence: an already-installed application may remain on a device after a store delisting.
- Different networks: implementation can vary among internet providers.
- Unofficial distribution: applications may circulate outside mainstream app stores.
- Social promotion: clips, links and promotional accounts can continue to spread even if the main site is restricted.
- Rebranding: producers, catalogues or payment relationships may move to another brand.
TechCrunch reported that Ullu remained available through its app and website at the time of its 2025 coverage, an example of why “banned” does not necessarily mean instantly inaccessible everywhere. That observation should not be read as a recommendation to circumvent restrictions. Unofficial apps and access routes can create legal, privacy, malware and payment risks.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.The crackdown continued after the 25-platform action
The July 2025 directive was not the end of the policy. On July 22, 2026, India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said that 50 OTT platforms had been disabled during the preceding two years for allegedly displaying obscene content or violating the legal provisions it cited.
This is a cumulative government figure, not necessarily 50 new apps blocked on that date. It also does not mean that every platform ceased all corporate activity. The Ministry’s official statement uses the narrower phrase “disabled for public access.”
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The Ministry separately published an OTT-platform list updated June 17, 2026. Inclusion on that list should not automatically be interpreted as proof that a service was unaffected by every previous restriction, permanently approved, or currently reachable on every network.
What happened to the companies?
ALTT provides an example of how a company can respond by repositioning its digital business rather than abandoning streaming. Balaji Telefilms later promoted Kutingg, a family-oriented replacement or successor platform, in its corporate communications.
The available evidence supports the existence of Kutingg and the broader repositioning. It does not, by itself, establish that every ALTT subscriber was migrated, that all catalogues were transferred, or that users universally received refunds. Those details should not be assumed.
The case illustrates an important point: blocking a brand does not necessarily remove the production companies, creative workers, catalogues, technical infrastructure or audience demand associated with it. Regulation may change where and how content is distributed without ending the underlying market.
The policy question beyond the apps
India’s approach combines content restrictions, intermediary obligations and existing criminal and civil laws. That gives the government several ways to address allegedly unlawful material, but it also creates difficult questions about how platform-level blocking is used.
The central issues include:
- How clearly authorities identify the offending content and legal basis.
- Whether affected companies receive adequate notice.
- What appeal or review mechanisms are available.
- Whether blocking an entire service is proportionate to the alleged content.
- How consistently rules are applied across large and small platforms.
- How regulators protect children and users without turning administrative access restrictions into an opaque substitute for adjudication.
These are questions about transparency, due process and proportionality—not proof that any particular order was unlawful. They matter because the policy is expanding beyond a single incident. The government’s 2026 figure indicates an active campaign against a wider group of OTT services.
Bottom line
India’s streaming-app crackdown is aimed mainly at the long tail of niche, mobile-first services—not at a universal shutdown of streaming or a blanket prohibition on every adult-themed programme. The July 2025 action covered 25 named platforms, while the government later said 50 OTT platforms had been disabled over a two-year period.
Some services were commercially significant despite being little known outside India. ALTT’s company-reported subscriptions, views and watch time demonstrate real scale, while traffic estimates for Ullu and other services show interest but not verified unique audiences. The most accurate description is therefore: India blocked or disabled access to dozens of niche OTT platforms over alleged unlawful content, and at least some of those platforms had audiences large enough to matter—even if “millions watched” does not mean millions of unique subscribers for every app.
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