Category: I&B Ministry

Mumbai: The continuing conflict between cable operators and broadcasters was resolved on Thursday when members of the All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF) reached an agreement with the broadcasters to sign interconnection agreements without prejudice.

The development was confirmed by sources, who added that the three broadcasters – Disney Star India, Zee Entertainment, and Sony TV are expected to resume their channel signals to all cable operators soon.

The interconnection agreements may be revised based on the outcome of the court case, according to the resolution reached by the two parties.

What first seemed to be a dispute about tariffs between cable operators and broadcasters developed into a conflict between two corporate media organisations, with seven MSOS switching sides.

This follows the AIDCF’s fourth consecutive day of hearing failure to obtain an interim stay from the Kerala High Court.

On 18 February , Star India, Zee Entertainment, and Sony TV cut their channels to cable operators who declined to abide by the terms of the revised new pricing order (NTO 3.0) announced by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

The NTO 3.0 came into force on February 1 and all the DTH operators and cable operators except 13 MSOS signed interconnection agreements with the broadcasters in order to ensure smooth telecast of all the channels to their subscribers.

The non-compliant MSOS moved to several high courts across the country under the aegis of the All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF).

While the high courts denied any interim stay on NTO 3.0, Kerala High Court is hearing the matter  on daily basis and MSOS are leaving the battlefield one by one with each passing day.

Apparently the tussle was manufactured by Reliance using its three MSOS to hurt Star India before the IPL season

Kerala Communicators Cable Ltd (KCCL) & KVBL Managing Director Sureshkumar PP further stated that Jio and DTH platforms were taking advantage of this problem and implementing new techniques to grab their precious clients in a letter sent on Wednesday to Manoj Chhangani, Secretary General, AIDCF.

With more than 3.1 million subscribers, KCCL was a significant AIDCF member who on Wednesday switched sides and signed the interconnection agreement in accordance with NTO 3.0.

As a result, Siti Cable, its JV ICNCL, UCN Cable, Thamizhaga Cable TV, Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV, and KAL Cables, who were initially non-compliant, were preceded by KCCL as the seventh MSO to comply with NTO 3.0.

Six MSOS-GTPL Hathway, Hathway Digital, Den, In Cable owned by NXT Digital of Hinduja Group, Fastway Transmissions, and Asianet Digital were left in AIDCF’s battle with broadcasters.

Reliance-owned GTPL, Hathway, Hathway Digital, and Den control 1.8 crore homes, or 75% of the homes that do not receive Star India, Zee Entertainment, and Sony channels, out of the 2.5 crore homes that these six MSOS collectively reached.

Mumbai: The All India Digital Cable Federation has cautioned advertisers not to run advertisements on Star, Zee, and Sony channels because the three broadcasters have deactivated signals to various independent MSOs because most of them have refused to sign new agreements, which could have resulted in price increases for consumers.

“The recent actions by Disney-Star, Sony and Zee have deprived more than 45 million households across India from watching their channels since Saturday, 18 February 2023. The 45 million homes account for nearly 35 per cent of the pay TV market in India. Are you still getting the reach that you have paid for?,” the federation said in a statement. 

“Your advertisements are not reaching more than 200 million consumers across all states and Union Territories in India for the past three days. More than 46 billion minutes of viewing time are being lost per day across India on the largest cable networks in India including GTPL, DEN, Hathway, Fastway, In Cable, NXT Digital, Asianet, KCCL, UCN and many more. These networks cater to large audiences in HSM as well as South with dominant presence in Punjab/Haryana/Chandigarh/HP, UP/Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, West Bengal/Odisha, Madhya Pradesh/Chhattisgarh, Bihar/Jharkhand, North-East, AP/Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, etc,” the statement added. 

“Take an informed decision when you advertise on any of the channels including Star Plus, Zee TV, Sony Entertainment, Sony Sab, Star Sports, Sony Sports, Star Gold, Sony Max, Zee Cinema, etc. These channels are not being viewed by more than 4,50,00,000 homes translating to more than 20,25,00,000 (20.25 crore) viewers. It is your right to ask for viewership when you’re paying for it,” the statement said.

Mumbai: The All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF) has clarified some issues raised by broadcasters.

The new regulatory framework (NTO 1.0) announced by Trai in 2017 promised consumer choice and lower prices for channels on cable TV and DTH platforms.The framework came into effect in February 2019 after an extended 2-year legal battle between the Trai and the broadcasters.

“The broadcasters announced MRP for the consumers for the first time ever which was raised by as much as 400 per cent  in some cases. Most of the popular channels were announced at an MRP of Rs.19/. Annexure 2 showing details of some popular channels,” said the press release by AIDCF.

The press release further made these points

Broadcasters also announced bundles of channels that had both popular and unpopular channels in the same bundles (bouquets)  However, the broadcasters effectively killed consumer choice by pricing these bouquets at heavily discounted prices as compared to the a-la-carte prices.

Consumers as well as the cable TV and DTH platforms had effectively no choice but to subscribe to the bouquets. For eg. The smallest bouquet offered by Sony was for Rs 31/ for the consumer which included 9 channels including both Sony Entertainment, Sony Sab, Sony Max, Max 2, Sony Pal, Sony Yay, Sony Wah and Sony Marathi/Sony Aath (Bengali). The a-la-carte price for just two channels Sony Entertainment and  Sony Sab at Rs 19 each amounted to more than the bouquet price which included the same two channels.

The situation was similar across all broadcasters

The cost of NTO 1 was:

Loss of more than 30 million (3.00 crore) subscribers from the cable tv service providers

Increase of subscription revenue by more than 200 per cent  for broadcasters and resultant massive increase in profits for them (Annexure 3 showing result of a publicly listed broadcaster before and after NTO). Even free-to-air channels of these broadcasters were converted into pay channels at minimal prices so that they could be pushed into bouquets and thereby to consumer homes.

Within a period of less than 6 months, Trai felt the need to undergo another consultation process to correct the anomalies in the structures and perverse pricing of channels and bouquets announced by broadcasters.

Consultation was followed by the amendments to the regulations (NTO 2.0) issued on 1 Jan 2020.

Broad highlights of the amendments:

Reduction of MRP from Rs 19 to Rs 12 for inclusion of a channel in a bouquet by a broadcaster

logic was given to prevent perverse pricing of bouquets compared to a-la-carte prices so that consumers could effectively choose what they want to see.

NCF announced in initial regulations was amended and a cap of a maximum of Rs.130 was introduced for 200 channels and a maximum of Rs 160 for more than 200 channels to ensure consumers were not burdened.

Discount on multi-tv homes was introduced. The cable tv platforms implemented the reduction in prices immediately so as to ease the consumers’ burden.

The broadcasters, however, again went to court against the amendments related to pricing of channels as well as the logic of pricing of channels in bouquets. The case went on till 2021 which the broadcasters lost in the High Court at Mumbai

The High Court decided the case after almost two years while upholding the structure proposed by Trai and their right to do so.

The Trai approached all the stakeholders to try and come to a solution to the impasse and held a couple of meetings. These meetings were inconclusive since the cable platforms (under AIDCF) were against any price increase for the customers while the broadcasters wanted the price for channels to be restored to Rs.19 for the channel to be included in bouquets.

The Trai brought out a minutes of meeting dated 23 December 2021 which was purportedly agreed by all stakeholders including broadcasters, DTH, cable TV platforms and Trai.

AIDCF had written to Trai and disagreed to the minutes and raised other issues too. However, Trai overlooked the communications for unknown reasons

Trai announced a consultation again in 2022 with the purpose of bringing relevant amendments.

The consultation process culminated with the issuance of the amendments (NTO 3.0) on 22 November .2022. Price of individual channels allowed to be priced at a maximum of Rs.19/- again for inclusion in a bouquet. A new provision allowing broadcasters to discount their bouquets by a maximum of 45 per cent  as compared to a-la-carte prices. This effectively keeps the consumer choice limited since the situation is similar to initial regulations (NTO 1.0) and the consumer does not have the option to choose.

Cost of NTO 3.0 and its impact

Broadcasters have significantly increased their channel prices and bouquet prices by approximately 18 per cent  – 35 per cent  which will definitely affect the consumer price (details given Annexure 4)

Average price increase across different areas of the country is expected to be in the range of Rs 30 to Rs 100 per month depending on the channels/bouquets opted by the consumer. The above price increase will result in a cost of close to Rs 5,000 crore to Rs 8,000 crore per annum to consumers which will largely benefit the broadcasters.

AIDCF and MSOs have immediately filed a case in Hon. High court of Kerala requesting stay on this Trai amendment

Various LCO associations have also filed their requested to put a stay on this Trai amendment

Broadcasters in meanwhile, despite the matter being sub judice, sent legal notices to AIDCF members to sign the agreement within 48 hrs. of issuance of notice or to face disconnection of signal immediately

Disney-Star, Sony and Zee switched off their channels on 18 February morning.Only three broadcasters have taken action. Other broadcasters who have not affected switch-off include Colors, Times, Discovery, Sun TV, ETV, etc.

Nearly 45 million households are affected (details appended in Annexure 1) who are unable to see the channels from these broadcasters. Now, broadcasters are urging consumers to go through the inconvenience of changing their service provider for their own limited benefit.

Mumbai : Indian Broadcasting & Digital Foundation (IBDF) has alleged that the All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF) made certain false statements about the new pricing structure, which went into effect on 1 February 1, 2023. 

The revised Rules and Tariff Order were announced on 22 November , 2022, by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), following a protracted consultation process. The AIDCF and its members took part in the consultations as well and were aware of the deadlines set by Trai.

The IBDF letter said, “They understood that the law mandates that the TV channels could only be provisioned under a signed interconnect agreement. As of today, all the broadcasters, all DTH providers and most of the cable operators, including some AIDCF members, have implemented the amended regulatory framework. Consequently, more than 90 per cent  of the DPOs have signed the revised interconnect agreement issued by the broadcasters, thereby choosing to comply with the law and ensuring that the service is not disrupted for majority of the subscribers.”

IBDF stated that Trai’s 2017 regulations brought in a separate charge of Network Capacity Fees (NCF), which DPOs charge and collect from the subscribers for provisioning access to the TV services. DPOs collect subscription fees in advance from consumers but do not pass the share to broadcasters in a timely manner. The price hike during implementation is largely due to the demand of the increase in the NCF by the DPOs and not at the back of the channel prices. 

“While no pay TV channel is provided against the said charge, the burden of this cost ultimately results in making the TV services expensive for the subscribers. As a result, the AIDCF’s claim that broadcasters are driving up TV channel prices and that 45 millions households have been impacted by channel disruption is completely false. Having not been granted any interim relief in multiple High Courts, the AIDCF is seeking to invoke public sympathy through a false narrative,” added IBDF. 

IBDF further alleged that while the broadcasters are under no legal obligation to provide any additional opportunity to the AIDCF members, they offered such DPOs additional 48 hours to sign the revised interconnect agreement in order to continue receiving TV signals without interruption, keeping in mind the interest of the subscribers. While some operators have signed the agreement, AIDCF members, have chosen to ignore it and deliberately refused to sign the revised Interconnect offer. The broadcasters, therefore, had no legal recourse but to disconnect TV services from the DPOs that refused to comply with the regulatory framework.  

“AIDCF is not only in defiance of the law but is also holding less than 25 million  subscribers hostage, solely for its own commercial reasons and circulating misleading information. The press release issued by AIDCF tantamounts to an attempt to influence the public with respect to the matter pending consideration before the court. These DPOS are minority in number compared to the ones who have already signed and due to their non-compliance, are depriving consumers of their favourite channels. In this scenario, Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation (IBDF) would like to urge the impacted viewers to reach out to other operators to subscribe to their favourite channels,” said IBDF. 

“Consumers are the centre of any broadcasters’ strategy and AIDCF members are only causing inconvenience to them by making false claims and leaving them without their favourite shows for selfish reasons.  Broadcasters are constantly introducing new channels with engaging new content, further creating proliferation in the industry, creating avenues for employment and providing a variety of entertainment options to the consumers,” added IBDF. 

Mumbai: Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) minister Anurag Thakur, has informed the Rajya Sabha that MIB had resolved 265 complaints regarding over the top (OTT) content under the IT rules, 2021.

“Since the notification of the Rules, the ministry has received 265 grievances, which have been addressed in accordance with the laid down procedure,” the minister said.

A Code of Ethics must be followed by publishers of online curated content, according to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

Ministry of Electronics and IT had said in a statement at the time of introducing the rules, “Since the matter relates to digital platforms, therefore, a conscious decision was taken that issues relating to digital media and OTT and other creative programmes on Internet shall be administered by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting but the overall architecture shall be under the Information Technology Act, which governs digital platforms.” 

As part of the rule announced in February 2021, the government also established a three level grievance redressal mechanism to handle complaints regarding Code violations.

The three tier mechanism for resolving grievances is as follows: Level I: Self regulation by broadcasters; Level II: Self regulation by the broadcasters’ self regulatory organisations; and Level III: A mechanism for central government oversight.

According to the regulations, OTT platforms must automatically categorise the content into the following five age based categories: U (Universal), U/A 7+ (years), U/A 13+, U/A 16+ and A. (Adult).

The minister predicted that India’s OTT market would grow at a rate of 21 per cent  per year to reach $2 Billion by 2024 while speaking at a summit last year.