TRAI caps carriage fee at 20 paisa per channel per subscriber per month
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has proposed to cap the rate of carriage fee payable by broadcasters at 20 paisa per channel per subscriber per month.
However, broadcasters will not have to pay any carriage fee if the subscription of the channel is more than or equal to 20% of the subscriber base.
The interconnection framework is common for all addressable systems namely DTH, HITS, DAS and IPTV.
It has also suggested “Must carry” provision for all addressable systems, on first come first serve basis.
The recommendations are part of the draft Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable Services) Interconnection (Addressable Systems) Regulations, 2016 released by the authority.
Some of the new features of the draft regulations are as follows:-
(i) A common interconnection framework for all addressable systems namely DTH, HITS, DAS and IPTV.
(ii) “Must carry” provision for all addressable systems, on first come first serve basis. Distributor of television channels to publish information about its platform including available capacity and declare the rate of carriage fee.
(iii) No carriage fee is to be paid by a broadcaster if the subscription of the channel is more than or equal to 20% of the subscriber base.
(iv) The rate of carriage fee has been capped at 20 paisa per channel per subscriber per month. Further, the carriage fee amount will decrease with increase in subscription.
(v) The distributors of TV channels may offer discounts on the carriage fee rate declared by them not exceeding 35% of the rate of the carriage fee declared.
(vi) The interconnection agreements to be signed in accordance with the Reference Interconnection Offer (RIO).
(vii) Broadcaster to offer to a distributor, a minimum of 20% of the maximum retail price of its pay channel(s) or bouquet(s) of pay channels as distribution fee. They may also offer discounts on the maximum retail price provided that the sum of discounts and distribution fee in no case shall exceed 35% of the maximum retail price, so declared.
(viii) Standard format of application for distributor of television channels for obtaining signals of television channel(s) from broadcaster and standard format of application for a Broadcaster for access of network from distributor for re-transmission of a television channel(s).
TRAI caps carriage fee at 20 paisa per channel per subscriber per month | TelevisionPost.com
