Broadcasting Services and Regulations in India

Parameswaran N., Principal Advisor

(Broadcasting & Cable Services)Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

Broadcasting services

Cable TV Analogue and digital

DTH Terrestrial (Public Broadcaster) IPTV HITS Radio

FM Radio broadcastingAM and SW radio (Public Broadcaster)Community Radio

Broadcasting sector in India -A snapshotSubscribers/ households

Total Households 270 m

Total TV Households 169 mCable TV Households 99 m

Registered Pay DTH subscribers

67.57 m

IPTV Subscribers 0.5 m

Service providers

Number of Broadcasters 243

Number of Registered MSOs in DAS

143

Number of Cable TV operators

60000

Number of DTH operators 7

Revenue

Total revenue of TV industry (2013)

INR 48600 crore*

Total FM Radio revenue ( 2012)

INR 2000 crore*

Channels

Number of registered TV channels

798

Number of Pay channels 187

Number of teleports 90

Number of Pvt. FM stations 243

Number of operational community Radio stations

170

Value Chain for the broadcasting and cable TV services

Broadcaster

Cable operator IPTV operatorDTH Operator

Local Cable Operator (LCO)

Consumer

HITS operatorMulti System Operator (MSO)

Local Cable Operator (LCO)

Functions of TRAI

Recommendatory – Need and timing for introduction of new service providers, terms & conditions of license, competition, technological improvement & development, spectrum management etc.

Regulatory- Interconnection, Quality of Service, tariffs etc.

To regulate the sector TRAI issues Regulations, Orders and Directions from time to time.

Key Feature of Broadcasting Regulations in India

TV channels to be carried over any platform must have permission under uplinking and downlinking guidelines.

Mandatory carriage of channels of public broadcaster and channels operated by or on behalf of Parliament.

Sharing of important sporting events of National importance with public broadcaster.

No exclusivity of content: Broadcaster ‘must provide’ signals on non discriminatory basis to the distributors of varius TV Platforms.

‘Must Carry’ provision for Hindi English and regional channels of the area concerned in Digital Addressable Cable TV systems.

Detailed Quality of Service regulations.

Regulations in Broadcasting sector

Interconnection regulations

Quality of Service regulations

Tariff orders

Interconnection Regulations

Interconnection Regulations broadly cover the aspects relating to:

Regulatory framework for the agreements between the service providers i.e. between Broadcaster, MSOs/ DTH operators and Local Cable operators.

Based on this framework the service providers finalize the commercial and technical terms & conditions to arrive at an agreement.

Quality of Service (QoS) Regulations

QoS Regulations broadly cover the aspects relating to:

Connection, disconnection, transfer and shifting of cable and satellite TV services.

Consumer complaint handling and redressalConsumer billing Procedure and handling of billing

related complaints.STB related issues and handling complaints thereof.Technical parameters to be adhered by the service

providers.

Tariff orders

Prescribes the wholesale tariff , retail tariff and the Revenue share amongst the service providers

Digitisation of Cable TV Services - Benefits

Enhanced capacity from 100 to 1000 TV channels.

Better Quality Video and Audio. Can support HD, 3D Channels. Customers can choose the channels they

want to watch. Can support Broadband and triple play

services. Transparency in the operations.

Roadmap for Implementing Digitisation with Addressability in The Cable TV Systems in India

Phase Areas Sunset dates for analog cable TV services

Phase I Four Metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai

30th Oct 2012

Phase II Cities with a population more than one million

31st March 2013

Phase III All urban areas 31st December 2015

Phase IV Rest of India 31st December, 2016

Thank you

Interconnection Regulations

The Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable Services) Interconnection Regulation 2004” as amended from time to time- Applicable for all platforms except for Digital Addressable Cable TV

Systems (DAS)

The Register of Interconnect Agreements (Broadcasting and Cable Services) Regulation 2004” as amended from time to time Applicable for all platforms

The Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable Services) Interconnection (Digital Addressable Cable Television Systems) Regulations, 2012 as amended from time to time Applicable for DAS

The Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable Services) Interconnection Regulation 2004” as amended from time to time

Salient features• Broadcaster “must provide” signals on non discriminatory

basis to the distributors of TV channels i.e. MSO, DTH, IPTV, HITS etc.

• Distributors of channels cannot insist for “must provide” Clause and demand for carriage fee at the same time.

• Broadcasters and MSOs need to give 3 weeks prior notice to MSO & LCO before disconnecting the TV channel signals.

• Broadcaster/MSO not to supply signals to MSO/LCO without entering into a written agreement.

The Register of Interconnect Agreements (Broadcasting and Cable Services) Regulation 2004” as amended from time to time

Salient features• Provides for filing of the details of interconnect

agreements by broadcasters, DTH operators, IPTV service providers and HITS operators.

• The filing is to done on annual basis by 31st July of each year for all the agreements active on 30th June of that year or which have been active during any part of the previous one year.

The Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable Services) Interconnection (Digital Addressable Cable Television Systems) Regulations, 2012 as amended from time to time

Salient features‘Must Carry’ provision for Hindi, English and regional

language channels of the concerned region.MSOs need not carry channels under ‘must carry’

provision if the channel fails to attract at least 5% of the subscriber base, on an average, for six consecutive months.

MSOs to publish RIOs for offering their platform for carrying a channels on non-discriminatory basis for the broadcasters.

No upward revision of carriage fee for at least 2 years.MSOs to file the details of carriage fee received and

Broadcasters to file the details of carriage fee paid, with the Authority.

In addition, the salient features of the interconnection regulation 2004, applicable for non-CAS areas, are also part of this Regulation.

Quality of Service (QoS) Regulations

QoS Regulations broadly cover the aspects relating to:

Connection, disconnection, transfer and shifting of cable and satellite TV services.

Consumer complaint handling and redressalConsumer billing Procedure and handling of

billing related complaints.STB related issues and handling complaints

thereof.Technical parameters to be adhered by the

service providers.

Quality of Service Regulations The Direct to Home Broadcasting Services (Standards of Quality of

Service and Redressal of Grievances) Regulations, 2007 dated 31st August 2007 as amended from time to timeFor DTH service

The Standards of Quality of Service (Broadcasting and Cable Services) (Cable Television – Non-CAS Areas) Regulations, 2009For Cable TV service in non-CAS areas

The Standards of Quality of Service (Digital Addressable Cable TV Systems) Regulations, 2012, dated 14th May 2012

For Cable TV service in DAS areas The Consumers Complaint Redressal (Digital Addressable Cable TV

Systems) Regulations, 2012 dated 14th May 2012 For Cable TV service in DAS areas The Standards of Quality of Service (Duration of Advertisements in

Television Channels) Regulations, 2012 dated 14th May 2012.

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The Direct to Home Broadcasting Services (Standards of Quality of Service and Redressal of Grievances) Regulations, 2007 as amended

from time to timeSalient features• Operators to compulsorily offer customer premises

equipment (CPE) on outright purchase or hire purchase or rental basis to its subscribers.

• Establishment of a 24 x 7 call centre by DTH operators for registering of complaints.

• Appointment of nodal officer(s) for each state for handling of complaints not satisfactorily resolved by call centre.

• No increase of subscription charges for first six months of the subscription.

• DTH operator to give notice for discontinuing a channel or for disconnecting a subscriber.

• No charges, other than rentals for CPE to be charged, in case the connection is suspended on the request of the consumer for a period of minimum one month to maximum three months.

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The Standards of Quality of Service (Broadcasting and Cable Services) (Cable Television – Non-CAS Areas) Regulations,

2009Salient features• Time limit of seven days for providing connection,

disconnection and reconnection of cable services.

• Issue of bills and receipts to cable TV subscribers.

• Maintaining helpdesk from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm everyday for Complaint handling and its redressal.

• Compulsory technical standards to be observed by the cable operators, including a good quality, measurable signal strength at subscriber's end, maintaining six-hour power backup.

The Standards of Quality of Service (Digital Addressable Cable TV Systems) Regulations, 2012

Salient features

MSOs to offer services with both pre-paid and post-paid payment options and be responsible for generation of bills to the consumers.

No charges, other than rentals for STB to be charged, in case the connection is suspended on the request of the consumer for a period of minimum one month to maximum three months.

Prior notice of a minimum of 15 days to be given for disconnection.

Minimum warranty of one year to be provided for set top boxes acquired by the consumer under outright purchase scheme.

MSO to have a website giving details of services being offered, rates of services being offered.

Technical parameters to be adhered by the service providers.

The Consumers Complaint Redressal (Digital Addressable Cable TV Systems) Regulations, 2012 dated 14th May 2012

Salient features

Operators to establish a complaint centre in his service area for redressal of complaints and addressing service requests of consumers.

The consumer care number to be toll free and to be widely publicized.

Operators to establish a web based complaint monitoring system to enable the consumers to monitor the status of their complaints.

Operators to appoint or designate one or more nodal officers in every state in which it is providing its services.

Operators to publish a consumer’s charter for Digital Addressable Cable TV systems providing all necessary details with respect to the services being provided by them.

Tariff orders

Prescribes the wholesale tariff , retail tariff and the Revenue share amongst the service providers

Tariff Orders

The Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable) Services (Second) Tariff Order 2004“ dated 1st October 2004 as amended from time to time for Cable TV Services in non-CAS Areas

The Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable) Services (Fourth) (Addressable Systems) Tariff Order, 2010 dated 21st July 2010 as amended from time to timefor all Addressable Systems Covers DTH ,DAS , IPTV and HITS

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The Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable) Services (Second) Tariff Order 2004“ dated 1st October 2004 as amended from time to time

Salient features

• Wholesale tariff rates have been frozen (as on 1st December 2007) based on historical pricing. Inflation linked hike is given from time to time.

• Retail tariff regulation provides upper

ceilings based on number of channels provided to the subscriber and category of habitation of the subscriber.

• Revenue share between MSO and LCO left to mutual negotiations.

The Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable) Services (Fourth) (Addressable Systems) Tariff Order, 2010 dated 21st July 2010 as amended from time to time

Broadcasters to provide contents to digital addressable platforms at 42% of the corresponding channel/ bouquet rates in analog cable TV sector.

Packaging and pricing for the offerings at retail to be decided by the operators subject to certain conditions.

STBs/ CPEs to be offered on outright purchase basis and rental basis or hire-purchase basis.

Revenue share amongst the MSO and the LCO to be decided through mutual negotiations. Failing which the revenue is to be shared as per TRAI prescription.

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contd..Salient features

• Broadcasters to offer all their channels to operators of addressable platform on a-la-carte basis.

• Operators to offer all the channels carried over their network on a-la-carte basis to subscribers.

• In addition the broadcasters and operators can also offer bouquets of channels.

• Twin Conditions to prevent perverse pricing to be followed, both at the wholesale and at the retail levels.

Contd..

Subscribers can avail a BST (Basic Service Tier) comprising of minimum 100 FTA channels at a price not exceeding Rs. 100/- per month (excluding taxes).

Subscriber can choose any up to 100 FTA channels, in lieu of BST offered by the multi-system operator at a price not exceeding Rs. 100/- per month (excluding taxes).

BST should include at least 5 channels of the each genre in case sufficient number of FTA channels of a particular genre is not available, the operator should include the channels of the other genres.

It is optional for the consumer to opt for BST.

contd..

Entry level prescription:• For all addressable systems except DAS Areas

• The operator can prescribe a minimum monthly subscription not exceeding Rs. 150/- per subscriber for channels/bouquets chosen by the subscriber.

• For DAS Areas• I- if the subscriber opts for BST or FTA lieu of the basic

service tier the operator can prescribe minimum monthly subscription not exceeding Rs. 100/- per subscriber.

• II- if the subscriber opts for one or more pay channels, with or without FTA channels- the operator can prescribe minimum monthly subscription not exceeding Rs. 150/- per subscriber.