DTH Operators can choose channels

NEW DELHI: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has allowed DTH operators to decide on the channels that they want to air even within a bouquet that is offered by broadcasters.

The new regulations issued by TRAI on Monday has mandated that broadcasters sell a bouquet of channels in addition to offering them on a-la-carte basis and the DTH operators would be allowed to choose from the list on an individual basis.

Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable Services) Interconnection (Fourth Amendment) Regulation 2007, which comes into force from December 1, has also mandated that the tariff for all the a-la-carte channels put together should not be more than 1.5 times the bouquet rate.

Besides, a channel sold on a-la-carte basis cannot cost more than three times the average price of a pay channel of the bouquet.

The pricing controls would mean that in case of a bouquet of, say, 12 channels that costs Rs 48 a month, the DTH operator can at best pay Rs 12 since the average price works out to Rs 4.

The norms also mandate broadcasters to enter into an interconnection agreement within 45 days of a reference interconnect offer request from a DTH operator.

Broadcasters have to make public the RIO containing the rates of channels and bouquets, details of discounts, payment terms, security and anti-piracy norms by March 1, 2008.

But the new regulation also allows both parties to enter into mutual agreements on "non-discriminatory basis by deviating from the RIO".

TRAI said it "will have the power to intervene and ask any broadcaster to modify" its published RIO on grounds of "protecting the interests of consumers, orderly growth of the sector, or for not being in conformity" with these regulations.

If the broadcaster and the DTH operator fail to enter into an interconnection agreement after negotiations, then both of them may jointly request TRAI to facilitate in arriving at an agreement, according to the new regulation.

This will be "without prejudice to the legal recourse" available to them at other courts of law, it said.

There are about 3.2 million subscribers of DTH's pay services, as compared to nearly 70 million subscribers for cable TV. Besides Doordarshan's free DTH -- DD Direct - there are two DTH pay services - Zee's Dish TV and Tata and Star group's TataSky. Four more are in the pipeline.

Source : TOI