ITV

Category: Regulators

  • Trai withdraws paper on IPTV

    Trai withdraws paper on IPTV

    NEW DELHI: In view of divergent and contradictory view from broadcasting and telecom industry, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is set to withdraw a consultation paper on IPTV that it had issued some time back.

    Though this can be viewed as a small victory for the broadcasting and cable community, which was resisting pressure from telecom companies to take IPTV out of the ambit of Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act.

    The decision of Trai, which was seeking opinion of the industry on IPTV at an open house today in Delhi, also means that it would not be submitting any recommendations to the government on this particular consultation paper.

    However, the step is being seen a “positive one” that would facilitate inclusion of IPTV and even mobile TV in a Broadcast Bill that the government was proposing to bring in, Indusind Media and Communication Ltd executive director corporate services and MSO alliance president Ashok Mansukhani said.

    In its consultation paper, Trai had asked whether it’s feasible to take IPTV out of the purview of the Cable TV Act and have separate licensing norms for it for its growth.

    The basic intention behind the proposed amendments in the Cable Television (Regulation) Act, 1995 was to keep the IPTV service outside the definition of `cable services’.

    Today’s development notwithstanding, the regulator played down the issue. “The chairman has indicated that probably the consultation paper needs to be revised. We would take a final decision soon,” a Trai official told Indiantelevision.com in the evening.

    The consultation paper on IPTV had drawn varied comments from stakeholders with broadcasters and MSOs saying IPTV should not be separated from cable TV and laws regulating it.

    On the other hand, the likes of Internet Service Providers’ Association of India and telecom companies wanting a slice of IPTV had pitched for separating it from cable services.

  • CAS rollout: Delhi HC ‘no’ to government plea for more time

    CAS rollout: Delhi HC ‘no’ to government plea for more time

    NEW DELHI: The Indian government yet again pleaded for more time to roll out CAS — six months to be exact — but a Delhi court has refused to accede to the request, asking for a final stand on the issue by the next date of hearing.

    According to information available with Indiantelevision.com, even the broadcast regulator pleaded for two to three months time to sort out CAS-related issues like pricing of TV channels.

    The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) submitted to the Delhi High Court today that it has initiated a dialogue with the industry stakeholders on issues related to CAS, which would take a few months time to complete and some consensus arrived at.

    However, the court was critical of such pleas and fixed the next date of hearing for 19 July.

    On the arguments forwarded by the government for more time, the court said the maximum that could be given is 90 days as authorities have already consumed considerable time in carrying out an earlier order of the court.

    On 10 March, the Delhi HC had directed the information and broadcasting ministry to roll out CAS in Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai within a month’s time.

    The court observed that if the government is unable to sort out CAS matters, then it could also explore the possibility of going ahead with the rollout based on the Chennai model.

    Chennai is the only city in India where CAS has been rolled out and running smoothly since 2003.

    A clutch of MSOs, including Hathway and INCablenet, had filed a case against the government on CAS in the Delhi High Court late 2004, alleging that keeping addressability in abeyance had resulted in financial losses to the petitioners.

    In the representation made before the court today, the petitioners alluded to the possibility of the government having plans to do away with mandated CAS completely. In this regard they made references to the relevant sections from the draft Broadcast Bill 2006, which is currently being circulated amongst government organisations for further feedback.

    When the government counsel expressed his ignorance of a draft Broadcast Bill, leave alone plans of junking CAS by making it voluntary, the counsel for the petitioners furnished a section of the draft Bill in the court.

  • B’cast, telecom industry divided on IPTV norms

    B’cast, telecom industry divided on IPTV norms

    NEW DELHI: A majority of broadcast industry stakeholders are against IPTV separated from cable service and have said this is likely to create more problems in an already vexed industry.

    A consultation paper issued by the broadcast regulator on IPTV and amendment in the Cable TV Act has drawn varied comments from stakeholders, including that IPTV should not be separated from cable TV and laws regulating it.

    “IPTV is similar to cable services in terms of content and mode of delivery. It would be appropriate to categorize it as a cable service rather than a telecom service under (the) Telegraph Act,” DTH licence holder ASC Enterprises has said.

    Agreeing with ASC is MSO Alliance, an apex body of multi-system operators in the country, which has sated that IPTV should not be dubbed a different service from cable TV.

    “Given the nature of IPTV services, which is akin to cable services, the effort on the part of regulator should be to propose amendments which would serve the purpose of keeping IPTV within cable services domain, rather than to suggest the ones which would take them away from the Cable Network Regulation Act,” MSO Alliance has said in reply to a consultation paper issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).

    On the other hand, Star has said that treating IPTV differently from cable services, as had been suggested by Trai in its consultation paper, would give undue advantage to telecom companies that have been proposing to start IPTV services.

    “In the absence of parity in FDI norms, telecom operators would continue to enjoy better access to the capital required for digital broadband services. This would be to the detriment of other service providers like cable and DTH,” Star has informed Trai.

    Presently in India, foreign investment in cable TV is capped at 49 per cent, while the government has okayed a proposal to raise the limit in telecom services to 74 per cent.

    Trai had invited comments from industry stakeholders on proposed amendments in the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 and existing telecom licenses for facilitation of growth of IPTV services.

    The basic intention behind the proposed amendments in the Cable Television (Regulation) Act, 1995 was to keep the IPTV service outside the definition of `cable services’.

    This means that IPTV service providers would not be covered in the definition of `cable operator’ and the Unified Access Service network used for provision of IPTV services will not get covered by the definition of `cable television network’ under the Cable Act.

    The 13 stakeholders that had got back to Trai with their comments on the issue include the following: NDS, ASC Enterprises Ltd, MSO Alliance, Cable Operators Federation of India, Hathway Cable & Datacom Private Limited, Reliance Infocomm Ltd, Ortel Communications Ltd, Zee Network, Star India, Tata Teleservices Ltd and the Internet Service Providers’ Association of India

  • CAS switchover modalities will hit broadcasters, MSOs hard; Trai to have final say

    CAS switchover modalities will hit broadcasters, MSOs hard; Trai to have final say

    MUMBAI: A day after the government issued a notification setting 31 December, 2006 as the deadline for the three metros of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata to be fully “CAS delivered”, it fired the real bombshell – the framework under which addressability would be introduced in the notified areas.

    The backdated (31 July) notification covers a whole range of conditions that impact all constituents of the cable service delivery chain – broadcasters, cable MSOs, last mile operators. It even delves into issues of advertising.

    Interestingly, embedded in the fine print of the notification is a clause that allows the government to extend the time frame for the CAS switchover if it believes that the arrangements made by MSOs are inadequate and therefore “likely to be against the interests of a substantial portion of the subscribers in any notified area.”

    Tasked with overseeing all this is the cable and broadcast regulator which has been given extraordinary powers in regards to the switchover to addressability in the areas that fall under the CAS notification – the Kolkata Metropolitan areas, the areas covered by the Municipal Council of Greater Mumbai and the National Capital Region of Delhi.

    The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), will be the final word on not just pricing of pay channels, but also in the granting of permission to cable service providers to offer addressable services, among a host of other extremely restrictive conditionalities. Some of the key issues the notification covers are:

    Interconnect Agreements
    It is Trai that will determine the “standard interconnection agreement to be used for entering into commercial agreements for distribution in the notified areas, of pay or free-to-air channels among (i) broadcasters and multi-system operators; and (ii) MSOs and local cable operators.”

    (a) Trai will set the maximum limits of security deposit and monthly rental for supply, maintenance and servicing of set top boxes of prescribed specifications to the subscribers on rental basis by multi-system operators in the notified areas;

    (b) tariff for the basic service tier along with the minimum number of free-to-air channels to be provided by the multi-system operators or local cable operators to the subscribers in the notified areas;

    (c) regulations for quality of service to be provided by the multi- system operators or local cable operators to the subscribers in the notified areas.

    Channel Pricing
    (1) Every broadcaster will have to declare the nature of each of its channels as ‘pay’ or ‘free-to-air’ channel as well as the maximum retail price of each of its ‘pay’ channels to be charged by the multi-system operators or local cable operators from the subscribers in each of the notified areas.

    (2) Each broadcaster will have to file the declaration of the nature and prices of channels within 15 days of the date of notification by the government.

    (3) If Trai believes the price declared by the broadcaster for any of its pay channels is too high, it has the right to fix and declare the maximum retail price of such a pay channel or fix a general maximum retail price for all pay channels within which the broadcasters may declare their individual prices for each pay channel.

    Any order issued in this regard by the regulator will be binding on the broadcasters and the multi-system operators and local cable operators.

    (5) If a broadcaster fails to declare the price of any of its pay channels within the prescribed time limit, or fails to comply with the direction or refuses or fails to enter into an interconnect agreement with a MSO permitted by the government within the prescribed time limit, the authority can take interim measures to ensure supply of
    signals.

    (6) If the broadcaster does not comply with the directives issued by Trai, the government may, if asked to do so by the regulator, suspend permission to broadcast the channel in the country.

    (7) Every declaration on pricing filed by the broadcaster will remain valid for one Year. If the broadcaster wants to revise the price of any channel or convert a pay channel to free-to-air or a free-to-air channel to a pay channel, it will have to give one month’s notice to the MSO and subscribers:

    MSOs, Cable Ops Will Need Government Permission To Operate
    (1) No multi-system operator can provide addressable cable services without permission from the government.

    (2) Every MSO has been given 30 days to apply to the I&B ministry for permission to operate, along with a processing fee of Rs 10,000.

    (3) After receiving the application, the I&B ministry has 30 days to either grant or refuse permission on the basis of information that will include existing operational area, actual number of subscribers and addresses of its local cable operators in each of the notified areas, commercial arrangements with the broadcasters and local cable operators, if any, financial strength, management capability, security clearance and preparedness to supply and maintain adequate number of set top boxes for its subscribers, installation of its subscriber management system and compliance with all other quality of service standards that may be specified by Trai.

    (4) In the event of an MSO failing or refusing to enter into interconnect agreements with a broadcaster of a pay channel or an adequate number of local cable operators in the notified areas or violates the terms and conditions laid down, Trai can take interim measures to ensure supply of signals. Though what these interim measures might involve is not spelt out, it would appear to indicate that the licence to operate would in that particular area would be given to some other MSO.

    (5) MSOs violating the terms and conditions laid down by Trai face revocation of their licence.

    Public Awareness Campaign About CAS
    (1) Every MSO will have to adequately publicise to its subscribers for a period of 30 days, either through advertisements in the print and electronic media or through other means (e.g. leaflets, printing on the reverse of the receipts, personal visits, group meetings with subscribers or consumer groups etc.) the salient features of the CAS scheme.

    These will include:-
    (a) A-la-carte subscription rates and the periodic intervals at which such subscriptions are payable for receiving the various pay channels;

    (b) The refundable security deposit and the daily or monthly rental payable for the set-top box and its detailed specifications such as make, model, technical specifications, user manuals and maintenance centres etc.;

    (c) The number and names of free-to-air channels that the multi-system operator will provide to the subscribers and specific placement of each channel in the prime or non-prime bands;

    (d) The prescribed monthly service charge to be paid by each subscriber for receiving the basic tier service and the number of additional free-to-air channels, if any, offered by the MSO.

    (e) The quality of service standards specified by Trai and the arrangements made by the MSO to comply with these standards;

    (f) The subscriber management system established by the MSO to demonstrate the functioning of the STBs and interact with the subscribers to explain the various financial, logistic and technical aspects of the system for its smooth implementation;

    (g) The arrangements for resolution of disputes between the MSO, LCOs, and subscribers in respect of the quality of service standards, payments and refunds etc.

    (2) The Authority may also arrange public awareness activities in the notified areas either directly or through authorized officers or consumer organizations etc..

    Supply And Installation of STBs
    (1) Every subscriber who wants to receive one or more pay channels shall, during the public awareness campaign or within 15 days after its expiry, apply to any one of the MSOs granted permission either directly or through any of his linked LCOs, to supply and install one or more set top boxes in his premises as per the scheme approved by Trai and deliver the requisite channels through the same:

    Provided that every subscriber shall be free to buy an STB of approved quality from the open market, if available and technically compatible with the MSO’s system. No MSO or cable operator can force any subscriber to buy or to take on rent the STB from him only.

    (2) Every subscriber who wants to receive one or more pay channels can either buy an technically compatible STB from the open market or apply to anyone of the MSOs either directly or through any of his linked LCOs, to supply and install one or more STBs in his.

    (3) Every MSO will have to set up and operationalise its subscriber management system within the determined time frame.

    Dispute Resolution Mechanism
    Every multi-system operator shall be obliged to maintain the quality of service as per the standards, including the arrangements for handling complaints and redressal of grievances of the subscribers, as may be determined by regulation or order by the Authority. The Authority may look into the efficacy of such arrangements and issue necessary directions to the concerned parties for compliance.

    Transition To Addressable Systems
    (1) Immediately on operationalisation of the SMS and the installation of STBs, every MSO will have to provide pay channels in encrypted as well as unencrypted form for a period of not less than 15 days to test out the quality of service, remove any technical or operational snags and enable the subscribers to become familiar with the operation of addressable systems at their end.

    (2) Before the start of the transition period Trai can call for progress or compliance reports from the service providers.

    (3) If Trai is of the opinion that the arrangements made by the MSOs are not adequate and the switchover to CAS is likely to be against the interests of a substantial portion of the subscribers in any notified area, it may recommend to the government an extension of the notified date by such period as in its opinion is the minimum required for the satisfactory completion of the necessary arrangements by the MSOs.

    Advertisements
    No programme shall carry advertisements exceeding 12 minutes per hour, which may include up to ten minutes per hour of commercial advertisements, and up to two minutes per hour of a channel’s self-promotional programmes.

  • UAE acquires rights to 225 digital channels

    UAE acquires rights to 225 digital channels

    MUMBAI: The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) in the UAE, has acquired rights to 225 digital channels at the recently concluded ITU Regional Radio Communication Conference (RRC) held in Geneva from 15 May 15th – 16 June 2006.

    The month-long conference was aimed at facilitating the transition from analogue media broadcasting to digital. The conference organised channel allocation among participating countries, based on a newly formulated digital terrestrial TV broadcasting plan.

    TRA DG Mohamed Nasser Al Ghanim said, “The UAE team has acquired 225 digital terrestrial TV channels out of the 236 present in the UHF and VHF bands. The TRA has authority on these channels, and we will soon issue regulatory lists to start giving licenses for channels use.”

    “The UAE will undergo tremendous change and growth in the field of TV and radio transmission in the coming few years so that people can watch the terrestrial channels’ TV programmes either at home or through their PDAs . In order to accelerate and facilitate the change, TRA is putting in place regulations that are in line with international guidelines in the field”.

    At the conference, the UAE acquired several leading positions in the conference, and assumed responsibility for chairing one of the negotiating teams, vice-chairing the special team for a new regional treaty and also vice-chairing a special team dedicated to revising the previous agreement.

    Prior to the conference, the TRA had organised several local preparatory meetings to reschedule UAE’s digital broadcasting channels in the 174-230 MHZ and 470-862 MHZ frequency bands through advanced software programs used for regulating the broadcasting spectrum according to digital maps of the country. The TRA also organised regional congresses with neighboring countries (GCC, Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, and the Republic of Yemen) to ensure a united front on broadcasting.

    The UAE is expected to transit to digital terrestrial broadcasting system within two years as part of an overall strategy to enhance the telecommunications sector in the country, and the TRA will be in charge of ensuring a smooth and successful transition to the new broadcasting paradigm.

    A key issue at the conference was the protection of analogue terrestrial broadcasting from digital interference until the year 2015 to ease the transition between the technologies. All conference participants signed a new treaty outlining terrestrial TV channels provision.

  • Govt official tipped as interim CEO of Prasar Bharati

    Govt official tipped as interim CEO of Prasar Bharati

    NEW DELHI: With the government yet to decide on a chief executive for pubcaster Prasar Bharati, an information and broadcasting ministry official is slated to take over the reins from the outgoing chief in the interim.

    Additional secretary in the I&B ministry P Singh, a government representative on the board of Prasar Bharati, would be the interim chief of an organization that manages Doordarshan and All India Radio.

    KS Sarma retires from the post of CEO on 30 June after an over four-year tenure, being the longest serving chief executive.Though it is unlikely that Singh would be a permanent appointee, the lack of urgency on the part of the I&B ministry to find a replacement for Sarma could see the government official at the helm of affairs for a longer duration than generally expected.

    Some of the names doing the rounds in the corridors of power as likely candidates to succeed Sarma include former I&B ministry official Vijay Singh and a human resources development ministry official who’s said to be close to I&B minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi.Another candidate, SY Querishi, whose name was being bandied round as a likely CEO of Prasar Bharati, was named by the government on Thursday to go to the Election Commission.

    Querishi had served as the director general of Doordarshan during Sushma Swaraj’s tenure as I&B minister in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government in the early 2000s.

    Considering that the post of CEO of Prasar Bharati — still regarded as an extension of the government propaganda division despite autonomy granted to it some years back — would prove to be both sensitive and crucial for New Delhi with elections scheduled in some states next year, it’s unlikely that Dasmunsi and company will decide in a hurry on a successor to Sarma.

    As the CEO, Sarma has had his ups and downs, but managed to retain his post despite changes in the ministry and the government.
     

  • Content regulation draft to be redone

    Content regulation draft to be redone

    NEW DELHI: Unhappy with the draft that has been prepared on content regulation, information and broadcasting secretary SK Arora has asked the panel responsible to rework it.

    Though no specific reasons were cited, the ministry is apparently unhappy with the way some of the issues have been dealt with as also the length of the 65-page draft, which is seen as being too unwieldy.

    Earlier in the week, Arora, who heads a 30-member committee comprising representatives from industry, trade and consumer bodies, conveyed his observations to a sub-panel handling the content regulation draft.

    However, no time frame has been set for the work to be redone, which is an indicator that the government might bring in such a regulation through an existing piece of legislation instead of waiting for the proposed Broadcast Bill 2006 to be enacted into law.

    The draft aims at regulating and setting parameters for content to be aired on TV and radio networks, including broadcast of adult fare and sting ops done by news channels.

    A peek into a section of this draft also highlights that the proposed legislation could not only hamper functioning of news channels, but is also intrusive.

    If okayed by lawmakers in its present state, it could well be the end of sting operations and coverage of issues where high profile politicians and personalities are involved.

    Sample this part: TV channels must not use material relating to persons personal or private affairs or which invades an individual’s privacy unless there is an identifiable public interest reason for the material to be broadcast.

    Who decides what constitutes an individual’s privacy? The government or the regulator, of course.

    Examples of public interest would include, according to the draft, revealing or detecting crime, protecting public health or safety, exposing misleading claims made by individuals or organizations or disclosing incompetence that affects the public.

    Nowhere does the proposed regulation dwell on misuse of official power by a public personality — an issue that’s increasingly becoming rampant in India.

    The draft then goes on to state that news should not jeopardize any ongoing criminal investigations and (TV channels) should avoid a trial by media since “a man is innocent till proven guilty by law”.

    Now this could also mean that if a politician’s son is being tried by law for using drugs in the official residence, TV news should not do extensive coverage of the incident. However, the draft regulation is silent what should be done in case such accused themselves go on air and ‘use’ the media to influence opinion making.

    “Channels mounting sting operations with use of hidden cameras and recording devices are required to strictly adhere to the rules prescribed,” the draft states, going on to put the onus on TV news channels of proving such a programme is in public interest.

  • Trai releases draft on quality of service norms for CAS Areas

    Trai releases draft on quality of service norms for CAS Areas

    NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) today released a draft regulation on quality of service for CAS areas.

    The draft regulation covers areas like fresh connection, transfer and shifting of cable television service, complaint handling and redressal, billing procedure and complaints, STB-related issues and complaints, change in position of channels and taking channels off the air and technical standards.

    The industry can also send its feedback to the regualor on the draft regulation, which are aimed at streamlining norms for CAS and formualting a standardised agreements amongst industry stakeholders like broadcasters and MSOs and MSOs and cable operators.,

  • Broadcast Bill: CAS law out, addressable systems in

    Broadcast Bill: CAS law out, addressable systems in

    MUMBAI: If the proposed Broadcast Bill 2006 does become law, it will not just be the requirement of a licence to operate that the cable fraternity will have to grapple with.

    The other worrying aspect of the Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill 2006, for the MSOs in particular, is the fact that conditional access systems (CAS) has no place in the Bill’s scheme of things. If the proposed Bill, which is presently being circulated among members of the Union Cabinet, does become law, it effectively means that there will be no rollout of CAS in India. At least as far as the way it was originally mandated (a timebound rollout first the metros and then further afield) is concerned.

    The cable industry is presently regulated by the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995. This Act will automatically stand subsumed if (and that’s a BIG if) Parliament signs the Broadcast Bill into an Act of law. What this will mean also is that SEC 4A, the section through which CAS was introduced, would also get deleted.

    Interestingly, there is a “savings clause” provided in the proposed Bill that protects CAS where it has already been implemented. Since Chennai is the only metro that is CAS-delivered, it could well end up being the only CAS market in the country.

    The thinking of the information and broadcasting ministry mandarins on CAS comes through quite clearly in the wording that the draft Bill uses. It talks of the need to introduce a modified version of CAS that is “more consumer friendly” that it calls Addressable Systems.And the road map for addressability is through going digital. The Bill proposes to progressively introduce addressable systems from a specified date with a cut-off date to complete the changeover from analogue to digital. And rather than a mandated CAS rollout, the Bill sees addressability coming in as a natural fallout of the phasing out of analogue and the gradual switchover to digital – a process that is going on in many markets across the globe.

    An enabling clause in the Bill that eases the switchover to digital is also seen as allowing enough flexibility to make suitable changes or amendments where required.

    The draft Broadcast Bill, which calls for the setting up of a separate Broadcast Regulatory Authority of India (Brai), has covered four major areas in its ambit, which include content, cross media ownership, subscriptions and live sports feeds (which are already part of the downlink norms).

     

  • Setting up broadcast regulator to cost government Rs 601 million

    Setting up broadcast regulator to cost government Rs 601 million

    NEW DELHI: The proposed Broadcast Regulatory Authority of India (Brai) is likely to cost the government Rs 601.1 million to set up, which includes recurring and non-recurring expenses.

    According to projections made by the information and broadcasting ministry, the annual cost on pay and allowances of officers and staff of Brai would be Rs 85.7 million, with the chairperson’s remuneration being the highest wherein the monthly financial implication would be Rs 60,000.

    Non-recurring expenses have been pegged at Rs 124.7 million, which include basic infrastructure for Brai. The Indian government is proposing to set up Brai under the yet to be enacted Broadcasting Services Regulation Act. The functions of Brai will be to oversee the broadcast and cable industry in all its entirety with powers ranging from granting licences for any type of broadcasting services to ensuring quality of services to monitor content beamed on radio and TV channels.

    It has also been proposed that Brai have five regional offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Guwahati.

    There would be six full-time members of the regulatory authority, apart from the chairperson, with everybody’s term of office being for five years or till the time they attain the age of 65 — whichever being earlier.

    The chairperson or any other member would not be eligible for a second term, but a member can be eligible for appointment as chairperson for the remaining part of his term.

    Even though Brai is being set up as an independent organization, the government would keep a control over it through a government official of not less than additional secretary’s rank who will act as the chief executive of Brai.

    A draft note, prepared by the government, states that the secretary of Brai would act as its CEO and the federal government would make available a panel of not less than three officials for a selection to be made.

    All broadcast and cable related cases pending before the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), presently acting as the broadcast regulator, and the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) will be deemed as transferred to Brai once it is set up.