ITV

Category: Regulators

  • ‘Super Regulator’ to replace TRAI, TDSAT

    ‘Super Regulator’ to replace TRAI, TDSAT

    MUMBAI: After scrapping the planning commission, the Modi government is thinking about clipping the wings of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

     

    According to a CNBC TV-18 story, the government is planning on a new super regulator for the communications sector. To be called Communications Commission, it will not only retain powers that TRAI enjoys, but also look into other matters concerning other regulators as well like Censor Board, some clearances from Ministry Of Environment, Competition Commission of India and the Department of Telecommunications.

     

    Moreover, the bill will also replace the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) with a new appellate body called the Communications Appellate Tribunal, which will have three members and a chairman. According to the report, this tribunal will also have the power to oversee dispute resolution.

     

    The communications bill seeks to replace all old and redundant legislations which include the Telegraph Act and TRAI Act. The Bill proposes a six member regulator with one chairman, who will have five year tenure. The member will include one each from sectors like telecom, broadcasting, finance, management, accountancy and either law or consumer affairs.

  • Prakash Javadekar asks MSOs to deploy indigenous STBs

    Prakash Javadekar asks MSOs to deploy indigenous STBs

    NEW DELHI: Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Minister Prakash Javadekar has said the government has initiated efforts to promote greater production of indigenous set top boxes (STBs) so that Indian consumers stop using low-grade imported STBs as digitisation grows in the country.

     

    The Minister said that he had called a meeting of manufacturers in mid-August and was surprised to learn that good quality Indian STBs were not only being made but were being exported.

     

    He therefore wondered why multi-system operators and local cable operators only installed imported STBs for which there was no arrangement for servicing.

      

    Javadekar said that he expected another 120 million homes to be covered by digital addressable system (DAS) by the end of 2016 and he would prefer that they all install Indian STBs.

     

    He said that DAS will not only bring better quality television but also value added services.

     

    He regretted that the process of digitisation appeared to have slowed down in the last 15 months but said the new government will take quick action to overcome the delays.

     

    The Government has already announced that Phase III of digitisation will be completed by December 2015 and the final phase by December 2016

  • Stern warning to News Live TV for showing disturbing visuals of dead bodies and badly injured people

    Stern warning to News Live TV for showing disturbing visuals of dead bodies and badly injured people

    NEW DELHI: The government today issued a warning to News Live TV channel for showing ‘extremely disturbing visuals of dead bodies and badly injured people including children which were not only disturbing but could also hurt the sentiments of the viewers.’

                                            

    In a stern directive to the channel to follow the Programme and Advertising Code as well as the Downlinking/Uplinking Guidelines, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry said ‘visuals were neither morphed nor blurred. The visuals appeared to be in bad taste and against the sensitivities of the victim’s family. Hence, the visuals appeared to offend good taste and decency. The visuals also did not appear to be suitable for children and for unrestricted public exhibition.’

     

    Any violation shall entail such action against the channel as deemed fit in accordance with the Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act, 1995 and the Rules framed thereunder as also the terms and conditions of the permission granted under uplinking/downlinking guidelines.

     

    Earlier, a show cause notice was issued to the channel on 5 November last year for the visuals carried in several news bulletins during 2012 and 2013. Initially, the channel said it was required to keep the recordings for only 90 days and therefore was unable to reply as the recordings had been destroyed.

     

    The Ministry thereafter sent recordings in its own possession and also referred the matter to the Inter-Ministerial Committee which considered the matter on 4 July this year where a representative of the channel was also present.

     

    The IMC observed that telecast of news bulletins were clear violation of the provisions of the Programme Code, particularly Rules 6(l)(a),6(lXo), and 6 (5) of Cable Television Network Rules, 1994. The IMC observed that even though the channel had accepted their fault and apologised for their mistake, they cannot escape the responsibility of ensuring content on their channel which must invariably be in conformity with the Programme Code.

     

    ‘News Live’ TV Channel is also governed by the provisions of Uplinking/Downlinking Guidelines and Pride East Entertainments while applying for the uplinking/downlinking permission had undertaken to abide by the Programme and Advertising Codes and the Uplinking/Downlinking Guidelines, read with the permission granted to ‘News Live’ TV Channel. 

  • One more week to respond to TRAI paper on resolving issue of the controversial AGR for broadcast, telecom

    One more week to respond to TRAI paper on resolving issue of the controversial AGR for broadcast, telecom

    NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has decided to give one last opportunity to stakeholders to respond to its consultation paper on a review of the definition of Gross Revenue (GR) and the permissible deductions to arrive at Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) in the context of the National Telecom Policy 2012 in view of a multitude of cases by both telecom and broadcast operators.

     

    Stakeholders have been given one extra week and can respond to the 24 questions raised by the Authority by 8 September with counter comments if any by 15 September. This is being done in view of the important issues involved, but TRAI said no further opportunities would be given.

     

     The Authority will also examine the components of GR, AGR and minimum presumptive AGR, rates of licence fee and spectrum usage charges, formats of statements of revenue and licence fee, and audit and verifiability of revenue and licence fee.

     

    The paper on ‘Definition of Revenue Base (AGR) for the Reckoning of Licence Fee and Spectrum Usage Charges’ will also examine the changes made in the licensing regime, the transition from the administrative allocation regime towards market-determined prices for spectrum, and the conclusion of tenure of many licences. The paper provides the relevant background information on the subject covering various issues involved.

     

    On the definition of AGR specifically, the Authority had in 2012 recommended that only the revenue from the wireless services shall count towards AGR calculation for the limited purpose of calculation of Spectrum Usage Charges (SUC) that would continue to be determined on service area basis, and should be levied only in respect of those service areas where the Licensee holds any access spectrum.

     

    TRAI wants to know whether there is a need to review/revise the definition of GR and AGR in the different licences at this stage; the guiding principles for designing the framework of the revenue sharing regime; and whether the rate of licence fee (LF) be reviewed instead of changing the definitions of GR and AGR, especially with regard to the component of USO levy In the interest of simplicity, verifiability, and ease of administration.

     

    The paper also wants to know whether the revenue base for levy of licence fee and spectrum usage charges include the entire income of the licensee or only income accruing from licenced activities if the definitions are to be reviewed/revised.

     

    It has asked whether LF be levied as a percentage of GR in place of AGR in the interest of simplicity and ease of application, and should the revenue base for calculating LF and SUC include ‘other operating revenue’ and ‘other income’.

     

    The government prepared a draft licence agreement for International Long Distance (ILD) services in September 2000 containing a provision that LF was payable as a percentage of revenue. For the Public Mobile Radio Trunk Service (PMRTS) too, the revenue share regime was made applicable from 1 November 2001.

     

    The definition of AGR has been litigated since 2003. TSPs questioned the inclusion of various components of revenue in the reckoning of AGR as well as the legality of the definition before TDSAT. In 2006, TDSAT, after noting that revenue from non-licensed activities needed to be excluded from the reckonable revenue, asked TRAI to make recommendations on the inclusion or exclusion of the disputed items in the AGR. TRAI made its recommendations on 13 September 2006 and the Tribunal gave its final order in the matter on 30 August 2007 after accepting most (but modifying some) of TRAI’s recommendations.

     

     In the course of finalising the recommendations of the Authority on the reference from TDSAT, the views of DoT were obtained by the Authority through its representative and incorporated in the “Recommendations on components of Adjusted Gross Revenue” dated 13 September 2006. The Authority was informed that the basic rationale adopted by the government while formulating the definition of AGR was that it should be easy to interpret – so as to pose fewer problems in application and less disputes and litigations, and to make it less prone to reduction in LF liability by way of accounting jugglery; and it should be easy to verify.

     

    The TDSAT’s judgment of 30 August 2007 was taken in appeal by DoT to the Supreme Court and was set aside by its judgment on 11 October 2011 on the grounds, among others, that TDSAT had no jurisdiction to decide the validity of the terms and conditions of the licence including the definition of AGR incorporated in the licence agreement. It was for DoT – and not TRAI and TDSAT – to take a final decision on the definition of AGR. The Supreme Court also held that a licensee can raise a dispute about the computation of AGR relating to a particular demand and that TDSAT can then examine whether the demand was in accordance with the licence agreement and the definition of AGR. 

     

    The judgment of the Supreme Court settled important points of law and has clarified the nature of the contractual relationship between the government as licensor and the TSPs. The judgment also laid down the parameters of institutional responsibility in arriving at the contractual terms and conditions; it held that: Litigation regarding the computation of LF continues before the TDSAT in the case of individual demands made on TSPs. It has also been reported that writ petitions re-agitating the revenue share definition have been filed by TSPs in different High Courts.

  • Govt. rejects TRAI proposal for lower reserve fee for FM phase III auctions

    Govt. rejects TRAI proposal for lower reserve fee for FM phase III auctions

    NEW DELHI: The recommendations by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to review the reserve price for FM phase III auctions have not found favour with the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry.

       

    TRAI had recommended a change, after going through the views expressed by radio channel operators and new stakeholders that the price was too high.

     

    However, the Ministry has pointed out to TRAI that the reserve price was fixed by a Group of Ministers and later approved by the Union Cabinet.

     

    TRAI had expressed apprehensions that the auctions could be jeopardized since many operators felt the price was too prohibitive. The phase III reserve fee formula (highest bid of phase II), has already led to a lot of opposition from broadcasters.

     

    When asked if this would lead to lesser number of bidders for phase III, I&B secretary Bimal Julka told indiantelevision.com, “We will cross the bridge when we come to it. At this moment, I can only say that we have accepted the TRAI recommendations with some exceptions.” 

    When the process begins – hopefully expected to start by October as indicated by Ministry sources – phase III is set for auction of 839 FM channels across 294 cities. These sources did not feel the reserve price was a major issue as the players likely to bid for the channel are large parties.

     

    However, the Ministry sees nothing wrong with the TRAI recommendation of allowing 15-year licence period for operators migrating from phase II to phase III as phase II had provided for 10 years of licence.

     

    TRAI had also recommended a lower minimum channel spacing of 400KHz for FM radio broadcast, as against 800KHz now, to allow more radio stations which has not been accepted by the Ministry. 

    The recent 2G auctions which came as a result of an order of the Apex Court had justified the need for a low reserve fees.

     

  • Community Radio Stations to get extension for up to 5 years at a time

    Community Radio Stations to get extension for up to 5 years at a time

    NEW DELHI: Even as the term of permission for community radio stations (CRS) should continue to be five years, the extension should also be for five years at a time.

     

    In recommendations made relating to community radio stations in the country, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has said CRS seeking extension should submit an application and verification to the terms and conditions of the permission in the fourth year of operation.

     

    CRSs should be allowed to broadcast news and current affairs content, sourced exclusively from AIR, in its original form or translated into the local language/ dialect. It will be the responsibility of the CRS permission holder to ensure that the news is not distorted during translation.

     

    CRSs should be allowed to take advertisements from other sources to encourage self-sustainability and enhance its relevance to the community, and the stipulation that Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity approved rates are their lowest rates and cannot be offered to any other agency should be relaxed.

     

    The Information and Broadcasting Ministry should develop a performance evaluation format in consultation with the stakeholders and place it in the public domain.

     

    CRSs applying for extension beyond 10 years should submit the performance evaluation report, duly filled in, along with their application one year before end of the permission period. The application for extension will be considered along with other fresh applications, if any.

     

    The same procedure will be adopted for all applications for extension beyond 10 years of operation.

     

    The duration of advertisement on a CRS should continue to be five minutes per hour.

     

    The Ministry should establish an online ‘single window’ system that will reengineer and integrate the entire process from the stage of filing application with MIB; grant of the Wireless Operating Licence (WOL) by WPC and signing of the GOPA. The online system must provide feedback on stage and status of the application in accordance with the time-lines already prescribed by the Ministry.

     

    The National Disaster Management Authority in consultation with the I& B Ministry and WPC establish detailed guidelines for use of CRSs in disaster management operations. The guidelines should include the procedure to be followed in case relocation of an existing CRS is required or for the establishment of a new CRS in the disaster affected region.

     

    As on 1 July 2014, 200 Grant of Permission Agreements (GOPA) have been signed. Of these 170 CRSs are operational 101 CRSs of which are run by educational institutes and universities, six by Krishi Vigyan Kendras and the rest 63 by civil society organisations. Currently, CRSs in rural and remote areas are generally being run by NGOs and campus CRSs by educational institutions mostly in urban and semi-urban areas.

     

    The TRAI recommendations are in response to a letter sent by the government on 8 January. As validity of GOPA for some of the CRSs had already expired on completion of five years, TRAI suggested some interim measures on 23 January. TRAI also issued a Consultation Paper on the subject on 21 May.

     

    The government announced its policy for the grant of permission for setting up of CRS in December 2002. Under those guidelines well established educational institutions, including IITs and IIMs, were permitted to setup CRSs.

     

    In December 2006, the government revised the policy for CRSs, bringing non-profit community based organisations, apart from other educational institutes, within its ambit. Non-profit organisations like civil society and voluntary organisations, state agriculture universities (SAU), Indian council of agricultural research (ICAR) institutions, Krishi Vigyan Kendras, registered societies and autonomous bodies and public trusts registered under Societies Act or any other such Act relevant for the purpose, were permitted to operate CRSs.

     

    The period of permission was increased three years to five years. All the operational CRS permission holders under the 2002 guidelines were permitted to migrate to the new policy regime without any financial implications.

  • TRAI blames MSOs and LCOs for delay in DAS implementation

    TRAI blames MSOs and LCOs for delay in DAS implementation

    MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has come up with certain amendments to the Standards of Quality of Service (digital addressable cable TV systems) (amendment) regulation 2012 (12 of 2012). The regulation has laid down norms for billing of subscribers in digital addressable system (DAS) areas.

     

    It says that even after coming up with the QoS regulation, it kept receiving several complaints from subscribers about not getting proper bill and receipt. Subsequently, the regulator issued a direction in December 2013 directing MSOs to offer prepaid and postpaid payment options, generate bills and issue receipts.

     

    It also made a team consisting of representatives from TRAI and the Broadcast Engineers Consultant India Limited (BECIL) to inspect the head-end and subscriber management system (SMS) of MSOs in Delhi. During the inspection it noticed non-compliance by cable operators. Some cable ops are not offering prepaid option of payment while those who did offer, didn’t give an option of electronic payment.

     

    It again issued a direction on 27 May 2014 to ensure bill delivery either by hand, post or e-mail, within 45 days of the direction to provide online payment option in its SMS, electronic acknowledgement to subscribers on payment. MSOs and LCOs are still delaying implementation of the same.

     

    Since no details are being inserted in the SMS, it is hampering the transparency of financial transactions between MSOs and LCOs thereby affecting smooth implementation of DAS.

     

    TRAI states that ‘in the absence of proper billing and accounting of receipts, there is a distinct possibility of loss of revenue accruable to government’.

     

    Due to all these reasons, the regulator feels that financial disincentives should be levied on non-compliant MSOs and LCOS, similar to how it happens in the telecom field where this action has yielded result.

     

    For non-compliance of issuing bills, a disincentive of not exceeding Rs 20 per subscriber will be levied on the MSO and/or its linked cable operator and for the second time, penalty would be Rs 50. For non-compliance of regulations, Rs 100 will be penalised on each MSO for each contravention. If the MSO and LCO have entered into an agreement, both of them will be penalised for faults while in the case of no deal being signed, only the MSO is liable to pay.

     

    The regulator says that the MSO may offer multiple denomination schemes for recharging, with an expectation that monthly recharge schemes would be one of the options.

     

    Another amendment that has been suggested is to ensure that bills have service tax registration number and entertainment tax registration number of either the MSO or the linked cable operator.

     

    However, before imposing penalties, TRAI will give opportunities to the concerned MSO or LCO to represent its case.

     

    The amendment, when approved, will come into effect 30 days from the date of publication and will be called Standards of Quality of Service  (digital addressable cable TV systems) (amendment) Regulations 2014.

     

    Stakeholders can provide comments before 8 September.

     

    Click here for the press release

     

    Click here for the amendment

  • RIO is a non-discriminatory agreement between parties under DAS: Taj

    RIO is a non-discriminatory agreement between parties under DAS: Taj

    NEW DELHI: On the third day of the Hathway Cable & Datacom and Taj Television hearing in the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), Taj Television described agreements under the Reference Interconnect Offer (RIO) as ‘a uniform, non-discriminatory mechanism which ensures an agreement between parties.’

     

    Taj Counsel Pratibha Singh also told the TDSAT that RIO was a kind of wholesale rate in the scheme of digital addressable system (DAS). According to her, if no agreement was reached during negotiations, then the payment for TV channels in DAS areas would be fixed as specified in the RIO.

     

    “It is a default programme on a computer – if there is nothing by way of agreement, then there is RIO,” she said.

     

    In the ongoing hearing before the Tribunal in the cases linked to Taj TV, she said that it was also clear that the rates under DAS were 35 per cent of those under analogue, which was later raised to 42 per cent.

     

    Referring to an earlier case in TDSAT, Singh said that though the Quality of Service regulations under DAS tended to curtail freedom, they had protected the consumer until there was adequate competition.

     

    The Telecom (Broadcasting and cable Services) Interconnect (Digital Addressable Systems) Regulations 2012 was clear in section 5(16) that negotiations have to be held.

     

    She reiterated that Hathway had been told on 26 June through a letter that since the negotiations had failed, Taj TV was forwarding a signed RIO. Hathway had also been told that they would be according to RIO if they sent a subscriber report.

     

    She alleged that the multi system operator (MSO) had not reduced the prices of the packages even after receiving the RIO.

     

    She also said that Hathway had failed to respond to the letter sent on 26 June until Taj TV stopped the signals from 1 August. “After failed negotiations, Hathway as late as 18 August claimed that Taj TV was not negotiating despite having admitted earlier that negotiations had been held,” she clarified.

       

    She said it was unfortunate that MSOs and local cable operators felt that they did most of the work and their share should be larger. “They overlook the fact that the broadcaster pays for content, spectrum, government taxes, journalists and producers and so on,” she concluded.

  • Madras HC denies stay on Kal Cables’ licence cancellation by MIB

    Madras HC denies stay on Kal Cables’ licence cancellation by MIB

    MUMBAI: As soon as the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) came out with an order cancelling the registration of Kal Cables, the company run by the Maran group moved the Madras High Court challenging the order.

     

    The petition contends that there was no notice issued to it before cancellation. While the petitioner was seeking to squash the order, the interim prayer was to provide a stay on it. The court denied the stay and said that the 15 day deadline for winding up operations will continue. However it has stayed the MIB’s directive to put a scroll on its network informing them that the service will be cut and asking them to move to other MSOs.  

     

    The petition from Kal Cables managing director Vittal Sampathkumaran states that following the insertion of Rules 11A to 11F in the Cable Television Network Rules 1995, it had applied for grant of registration to operate as MSO in digital addressable system (DAS) areas in November 2012.

     

    In March 2013 the MIB granted provisional registration to Kal Cables which has now been revoked and has asked the MSO to wind up operations within 15 days. The registration was denied on the grounds of denial of security clearance. However, Kal says that there has been no change in its business operations, and hence this is no cause for denial of licence.

     

    The court has asked the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to submit its report on why the clearance was denied. Counsel for MHA said that the document was confidential and could be provided only by Tuesday, 2 September.

     

    Kal Cables runs Sumangli Cable Vision that has operations mainly in Chennai.

  • TRAI seeks views on penalties for non-compliant MSOs and LCOs in DAS areas

    TRAI seeks views on penalties for non-compliant MSOs and LCOs in DAS areas

    MUMBAI: Days after the news of new deadlines being set for phase III and IV of digital addressable system (DAS) was known, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has decided to straighten up the multi system operators (MSO) and local cable operators (LCOs) who are turning up their noses regarding billing in the first two phases.

     

    TRAI has come out with a notice inviting stakeholders to give their inputs regarding penalties to be imposed on non-compliant MSOs and LCOs. It says that it has received several complaints from DAS subscribers that they weren’t getting either the bill or the receipt of payment for their TV subscription services.

     

    Therefore, in order to protect the interest of consumers, ensure transparent business practices and promote efficiency, it is proposing to amend the regulation to incorporate provisions of levying financial disincentives on such MSOs and LCOs. TRAI is also seeking to amend the Standards of Quality and Service (digital addressable cable TV systems) Regulations 2012 (12 of  2012) dated 14 May 2012.

     

    The regulation lays down quality of service norms to be adhered to by the service providers, providing cable TV services through DAS.

     

    TRAI seeks comments from stakeholders on the draft regulation by 8 September to sksinghal@trai.gov.in.