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  • CASBAA Sat Forum: Innovation at every level vital, b’band driving HTS, a maturing tech

    MUMBAI: “There have been more dramatic changes in the global satellite industry in the past two years than we have been seen in the last twenty-five,” said SES Networks’ CEO Steve Collar, at the close of the CASBAA Satellite Industry Forum 2017 in Singapore.

    That comment summarised nine hours of high-octane insights, statements and data downloads testing the temperature of the Asian satellite market at CASBAA’s 17th annual meeting of satellite executives, engineers and investors.

    “This has been an energising, challenging day which laid out the immediate and long-term opportunities and challenges for the satellite sector in Asia in terms of both commercial and technical issues,” said CASBAA CEO, Christopher Slaughter. “We have been given a lot to think about. Innovation at every level must be at the heart of all our businesses.”

    According to keynote speaker – AsiaSat CEO Andrew Jordan, video distribution via satellite represents some 70% of revenues for most geo-satellite operators in the region with Ultra High Definition (UHD) and 4K services “all the rage” despite representing a less than 20% transition from Standard Definition services in Asia. “Mobility and broadband are the latest must-have applications, driving HTS (High Throughput Satellites) which is a maturing technology with enormous promise,”

    The potential benefits and disadvantages of HTS and “cut-throat” competition were an overarching theme of the conference, which also covered such items as in-flight connectivity, maritime services, reusable launch vehicles, flat panel antennas, new satellite manufacturing processes and the on-going promise of the satellite market in India.

    Some quotable quotes:

    From the Operators
    · There are 600 million households out there without TV. The opportunity for satellite remains enormous – Tom Choi, ABS
    · When the millennials start families they are like the rest of US. They slump back on their settees – Andrew Jordan, AsiaSat
    · If we don’t play in the 5G space other technologies will take over for sure – Deepak Mather, SES

    From the Manufacturers
    · Our customers are increasingly asking for Flexible, Refreshable, Blended Constellations that will last forever. It’s all over the map – Dawn Harms, Boeing Satellite
    · Manufacturers also need to help with the ground segment – Tony Colucci, VP Sales, SSL
    · From GEO to LEO . . . It’s a cultural difference – Tony Colucci, SSL
    · To provide for the “extended life” of a satellites (maybe to match the life of a co-located satellite) GEO manufacturers need agree on a standardized USB for in-orbit connectivity – Olivier Guilbert, Thales Alenia
    · Now we must be “Datacentric”, Tony Colucci, SSL

    From the Customers
    · We are now entering uncharted territory – Chris Baugh, Northern Sky Research
    · Competition is fierce – PJ Beylier, Speedcast
    · Consolidation is coming, but it must be at the operator level – Deepakajit Singh, Encompass Media
    · Transponder costs may yet fall by 30%-40% — Deepak Singh, Encompass

    On HTS
    · HTS is the thing — Tony Colucci, SSL
    · It’s not just about providing highest throughput, it’s about jointly driving the ecosystem to make it more efficient – Elias Zaccack, SES

    On Flat Panels
    · We need multi frequency, multi-beam spectrum. The ability to switch between Ka to KU via LEO or GEO is crucial — John Finney, Isotropic
    · It’s more complicated than almost anybody thought a few years ago – Susan Bull, Comsys
    · People aren’t going to buy a flat-panel antenna just because it’s pretty! — Alvaro Sanchez, Intergrasys

    The Launch Panel
    · Our objective is to relaunch the rocket after one hour — Jonathan Hofeller, SpaceX
    · Launch, Re-fuel and re-launch — Jonathan Hofeller, SpaceX
    · They say there will be 24,000 LEO launches in the next while. What about space junk? – Peter Jackson, PJ Square
    · Less price, more performance! That is what we will deliver ,– Tom Carroll, ILS International

    On India
    · Digitise, digitise, digitise! But when can we monetize? – Ashok Mansukhani, Hinduja Media
    · India is a country where stats sarely make sense — Ashok Mansukhani
    · The DTH industry will remain a volume-led market for the next 5 years – Vivek Coutop, MPA

    The CASBAA Satellite Industry Forum 2017 also appreciates the generous support of the sponsors for this year’s event:

    ABS, APSTAR, Arianespace, AsiaSat, Boeing Satellite Systems, COMSYS, Effective Space, Eutelsat, Gogo, Intergrasys , International Launch Services (ILS), Marsh, MEASAT, Newtec, NorthTelecom, SES, SKY Perfect JSAT, SpaceX and SSL.

  • MIB: No DPO request for infra sharing, DTH ops’ transponder demand up

    NEW DELHI: Though there is a committed demand from DTH service providers for 68 more satellite transponders, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) hasn’t yet received any proposal from any players to share amongst themselves satellite capacity or other distribution infrastructure.

    MIB minister M Venkaiah Naidu yesterday informed Parliament that DTH operators were presently using 104 Ku-band transponders, while there were additional needs as, according to Department of Space, demand for transponder capacity for DTH services has gone up with increase in introduction of high definition (HD) TV channels.

    The growth of usage of satellite transponders by DTH service providers in India, as listed out by MIB, over the last five years is as follows: March 2013 — 76; March 2014 — 77; March 2015 — 78; March 2016 — 87 March 2017 — 104.

    The Minister, acknowledging that sector regulator TRAI had given a set of recommendations on sharing of broadcasting infrastructure amongst players on a voluntary basis by tweaking certain rules, added that his ministry had not received any proposal from platform operators for sharing of satellite transponders and/or earth station facilities.

    The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India issued recommendations on sharing of infrastructure in television broadcasting distribution sector on 29 March 2017. These recommendations are available on TRAI’s website www.trai.gov.in.

    The objectives of these recommendations are to enable a policy environment for facilitating sharing of infrastructure in TV broadcasting distribution sector, on a voluntary basis. The sharing of the infrastructure is expected to enhance available distribution network capacities leading to reduction in capital and operative expenditure for the service providers, thereby bringing down the price of broadcasting services to subscribers.

    In addition, it would lower the entry barriers for new service providers and provide more space on broadcasting distribution networks for niche channels.

    India’s six private-sector DTH operators uplink signals of TV channels to different Indian and foreign satellites located at different orbital slots. Majority of the channels transmitted by operators are replicated across multiple platforms. This creates capacity constraints and also is a significant cost for each operator, thus making the service expensive, TRAI had observed while pushing for infrastructure sharing amongst distribution platforms.

    Hong Kong-based media industry advocacy group CASBAA in a report, issued in March 2016, had pointed that the DTH sector in India would grow in coming years as would demand for KU-band transponders and, while ISRO has been doing a commendable job, it’s unlikely to meet the market demands on Indian satellites, which will have to be provided for on foreign satellites.

    In the report, titled `Capacity crunch continues: Assessment of satellite transponders’ capacity for the Indian broadcast and broadband market’, CASBAA, amongst other things, had observed that to keep the vibrancy in the Indian broadcast sector alive, foreign transponder contracts need to be of longer durations (10–15 years) to allow Indian companies to leverage on cost economics and provide cost protection to DTH operators and allowing direct contracting for DTH operators to secure incremental capacity with existing satellite providers already authorized (by ITU and ISRO) to provide them service.

  • Child Rights Award ’17: A call to broadcasters

    MUMBAI: ABU, CASBAA and UNICEF are calling for entries for the 17th Asia-Pacific Child Rights Award from broadcasters and producers in the region.

    Programmes both for children and about children are eligible and can cover any children’s rights issue. Entries can include documentaries that detail the plight of children, dramas that help break down stereotypes and discrimination, or animation that teaches and entertains.

    Entries must have been broadcast between June 2016 and June 2017 and must be received by 30 June 2017. The Award will be presented during the CASBAA Convention in Macau in early November 2017.

    Eligible countries/territories: Afghanistan, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Republic of Korea, DPR Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Lao PDR, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, New Zealand, Niue, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand , Timor-Leste, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu and Vietnam.

    This competition is open to all ABU and CASBAA members in the Asia-Pacific region. A full list of countries can be found on the website.

    To join the competition, please submit your entries) online at https://goo.gl/vKWqd5

    ABU is a non-profit, non-government, professional association of broadcasting organizations, to facilitate the development of broadcasting in the Asia–Pacific region. CASBAA is the association for the multichannel audiovisual content creation and distribution industry across Asia. UNICEF works in 190 countries and territories to protect the rights of every child.

  • CASBAA India OTT Forum: Asian players in search of a winning formula

    MUMBAI: Catering to regional choices, reasonable pricing coupled with fabulous viewing experience, good user interface (UI) and worthwhile user engagement through membership and social media connect seemed to the gist of “the Asian experience” conversation CASBAA chief executive Christopher Slaughter had with Hooq managing director Salil Kapoor, Spuul chief executive Subin Subaiah and NBA India managing director Yannick Colaco.

    Spuul and Hooq are Asian in nature and are willing to adapt according to every market they enter, including India. NBA (National Basketball Association) too is learning to be a player to contend with in a complex market like India.

    Kapoor admitted that, though Hooq has done well in Philippines and Indonesia and, in a small way, in Singapore, the India story is yet to happen after 18 months of presence in the country. “In the Philippines, for example,” Kapoor said, “We garnered good traction with the strategy of best of Hollywood and local content.”

    However, he added, in India, the audience is wide — different regional languages, dialects, content preferences, classes and masses — and a definite strategy is yet to evolve. Kapoor and others were speaking at the CASBAA India OTT Forum in Mumbai on 3 March 2017.

    NBA entered India with its own content. “Small players who seek a bigger premium have less fan growth,” Colaco observed. “If we want to control the destiny of our brand NBA, we need to be more nimble,” he added. “Our growth will depend on how we engage with the users,” the NBA executive said. Colaco elaborated how NBA, as part of user engagement, had put a reasonably-priced league pass behind a pay wall. “Content users, who bought the passes, have access to 1400 live games, archives, four different angles of game viewing and three types of commentaries,” he said.

    With various tie-ups OTT players are reaching out to maximum audience. Broadcasters, sometimes, Colaco felt, may limit content-providers’ engagement with the users. “But, through our association with Sony 6,” Colaco said, “we bring 14 live games to our audience every week.” Reiterating NBA’s aim to control the “destiny of their users”, the NBA man said they have managed to garner around seven million fans on Facebook and were exploring more efficient ways of engagement.

    Subaiah, who sees Spuul as the company’s livelihood in the sense it being a pure play OTT company with no other agenda, said that they were gathering metrics. “We have experimented and ruled out several content formats such as short form,” he added, pointing out that at times the consumer is challenged to find good content.

    Prodded by Slaughter on revenue in the broadcast versus pure play game, Kapoor said that different players may have experimented with SVoD and AVoDs, but the industry in India seems to be dominated by a couple of large players. He finds TVoDs to be an exciting challenge. He opined weekly passes or sachet pricing may work, but not AVoD.

    Colaco recommended that one needs to grow its fan base for the sake of content. Since the audience is the young generation, content makers/aggregators too need to evolve constantly. Many a broadcaster, he felt, was not always equipped to evolve constantly. Also, he observed, several content formats were inefficient for mobile platform: “We (NBA) shoot at least seven games a week only for the mobile (landscape) audience.”

    When pointed out that audio too was important for sports content, Colaco agreed, and said that they were actively looking at going regional. “We are already having the audio for 600 games in Chinese,” he stressed, adding in three months, NBA planned to have its games commentary in Hindi as well. Supporting the idea, Subaiah said that Tamil content dubbed in Hindi on Spuul was doing well.

    So who’s going to be ahead in the arms race? The Hooq executive felt that, although Bollywood was important, regional content seemed to be critical too. If one (player) is something in everything, there is an apprehension of being rendered irrelevant, Kapoor said, since the raw material (content) is becoming expensive by the day. And then, there is the new girl in town — originals. “How can we leave her alone?” he asked.

    So, there is original versus ‘freemium’ versus regional content. But, Subaiah believes that content, if not backed with worthwhile distribution and sufficient marketing, is of no use no matter how good it might be. The jury seemed to be out on a blend of original and regional coupled with high-decibel marketing.

    Who cuts the ice for this kind of cocktail? All OTT players in India seem to be testing the market and learning and evolving for the last 24 months. But, for how long? And, is it affordable too?

    Kapoor, having also done a successful stint at Dish TV selling satellite connections, however, did make an apt point on freebies being thrown at consumers. “An e-commerce giant is giving away good content almost free (Amazon), a telco (Reliance Jio) is giving data almost complimentary and a broadcaster (Star) is giving most of the content for free,” Kapoor said throwing up his hands, adding that there was a need to stop with such freebies that don’t make much business sense and “consolidate” as India has seen 17 telcom players playing the game initially, but now reduced to just four or five major and serious players.

    But, the NBA India chief was confident that the India code could be cracked. Pointing out that most MNCs believed in the power of India where 500 million people were under the age of 25, Colaco said as his parting shot, “There is an opportunity to reach out to the millenials. Let’s build on the opportunity — it’s tremendous.”

  • CASBAA hails judicial review of broadcast & cable tariff

    CASBAA hails judicial review of broadcast & cable tariff

    MUMBAI: CASBAA, the association of Asia’s pay-TV industry, has applauded the judicial review now under way in India of proposed extension and tightening of India’s pay-TV rate regulations.

    The Madras High Court is reviewing the clash between the rights of copyright owners around the world and new tariff regulations proposed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). The court has ordered the TRAI not to give effect to the rules until the underlying issues are considered, with a hearing now set for 19 January.

    CASBAA CEO Christopher Slaughter observed that the new rules would be a major negative factor for the business environment in the US$ 17 billion Indian media industry. “India’s pay-TV regulations have long been among the strictest in the world”, he said. “The proposed new rules are highly intrusive and would make the environment much worse. Such a heavy-handed regulatory regime will inevitably hit foreign companies’ interest in investing in India.”

    Indian law gives copyright owners the ability to price and sell their creative works. In filing the Madras suit, the petitioner broadcasting organizations denounced the TRAI regulation as contrary to these principles as enshrined in the law, and in international treaties to which India is a signatory. (The TRAI rules would establish a controlled price regime by mandating a la carte channel supply, setting the ceiling, by specific genres, that broadcasting organizations can charge to multi-channel programme distributors, limiting discounts, prescribing carriage fees, and stipulating a compulsory distribution fee to be paid by Broadcasting Organizations to multichannel programme distributors.

    CASBAA has long expressed concern about India’s previous rate regulations, which included a cable retail price freeze imposed in 2004 “until the market became more competitive” and never revoked.

    “Today, India’s television content market is among the most competitive in the world,” said Slaughter. “Modern cable MSOs, six different DTH platforms and now online OTT television are all giving Indian consumers a wide range of viewing options.”

    CASBAA’s chief policy officer John Medeiros observed, “As convergence and greater competition sweep the TV economy, other governments around the world are eliminating rate controls, to give more scope to competition among traditional and new online providers. In the last few years, Korea and Taiwan have both undertaken to liberalize their pay-TV price controls, leaving India as the last market economy in Asia with a hyper-regulatory regime. The proposed new rules would take India in the opposite direction from the rest of the world.”

    Also Read:  Tariff order: Don’t notify without SC nod, TRAI told; Madras HC case to continue

    Also Read:  Copyright owners call for competitive pricing over TRAI regulation

  • CASBAA hails judicial review of broadcast & cable tariff

    CASBAA hails judicial review of broadcast & cable tariff

    MUMBAI: CASBAA, the association of Asia’s pay-TV industry, has applauded the judicial review now under way in India of proposed extension and tightening of India’s pay-TV rate regulations.

    The Madras High Court is reviewing the clash between the rights of copyright owners around the world and new tariff regulations proposed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). The court has ordered the TRAI not to give effect to the rules until the underlying issues are considered, with a hearing now set for 19 January.

    CASBAA CEO Christopher Slaughter observed that the new rules would be a major negative factor for the business environment in the US$ 17 billion Indian media industry. “India’s pay-TV regulations have long been among the strictest in the world”, he said. “The proposed new rules are highly intrusive and would make the environment much worse. Such a heavy-handed regulatory regime will inevitably hit foreign companies’ interest in investing in India.”

    Indian law gives copyright owners the ability to price and sell their creative works. In filing the Madras suit, the petitioner broadcasting organizations denounced the TRAI regulation as contrary to these principles as enshrined in the law, and in international treaties to which India is a signatory. (The TRAI rules would establish a controlled price regime by mandating a la carte channel supply, setting the ceiling, by specific genres, that broadcasting organizations can charge to multi-channel programme distributors, limiting discounts, prescribing carriage fees, and stipulating a compulsory distribution fee to be paid by Broadcasting Organizations to multichannel programme distributors.

    CASBAA has long expressed concern about India’s previous rate regulations, which included a cable retail price freeze imposed in 2004 “until the market became more competitive” and never revoked.

    “Today, India’s television content market is among the most competitive in the world,” said Slaughter. “Modern cable MSOs, six different DTH platforms and now online OTT television are all giving Indian consumers a wide range of viewing options.”

    CASBAA’s chief policy officer John Medeiros observed, “As convergence and greater competition sweep the TV economy, other governments around the world are eliminating rate controls, to give more scope to competition among traditional and new online providers. In the last few years, Korea and Taiwan have both undertaken to liberalize their pay-TV price controls, leaving India as the last market economy in Asia with a hyper-regulatory regime. The proposed new rules would take India in the opposite direction from the rest of the world.”

    Also Read:  Tariff order: Don’t notify without SC nod, TRAI told; Madras HC case to continue

    Also Read:  Copyright owners call for competitive pricing over TRAI regulation

  • Tariff order: Don’t notify without SC nod, TRAI told; Madras HC case to continue

    Tariff order: Don’t notify without SC nod, TRAI told; Madras HC case to continue

    NEW DELHI: Declining to stay proceedings in the Madras High Court, the Supreme Court today said the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India could continue with its work relating to consultation papers and tariff orders, but will not notify these without first referring them to the apex court.

    The apex court direction came on an appeal by TRAI against an order of the Madras High Court. When contacted by indiantelevision.com, TRAI said it has no comments to make on the Supreme Court directive or on the course of action in the high court.

    The high court had, on 12 January 2017, extended the status quo ordered by it on 23 December 2016 with regard to any tariff orders or regulations for the broadcast sector that related to copyrights issue. The HC was informed that India’s telecoms and broadcast regulator had filed an appeal in the Supreme Court. After today’s apex court directive, the case filed by Star TV and Vijay TV will come up in the Madras High Court as slated on 19 January 2017.

    The petitioner-broadcasters had sought to argue that the TRAI orders on tariff regulations were broadly in conflict with the Copyright Act 1957. Pending the full hearing of the case, TRAI would not be able to pass any guidelines for issues such as broadcast tariff, broadcast interconnect, etc.

    A few months ago, TRAI had issued draft guidelines on tariff, interconnect and quality of service wherein it had suggested various parameters for stakeholders of the broadcast and cable sectors.

    It may be recalled that the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) had said in a submission to the TRAI drafts last year that the exercise was in direct conflict with the provisions of the Copyright Act and other international copyrights laws, especially the Berne Convention. The IBF had said the Copyright Board is fully empowered to adjudicate upon disputes between any person and Content or Broadcast Reproduction Rights owners. Hence the Copyright Act and Rules provide for protection, monetisation, enforcement and adjudication procedures for all copyrightable work and broadcast reproduction rights.

    Meanwhile, weighing in with the IBF, Asian pay TV industry body CASBA today in a statement said that it has long expressed concern about India’s previous rate regulations, which included a cable retail price freeze imposed in 2004 “until the market became more competitive” and never revoked.

    Also read:   TRAI regulations threaten investment, warns CASBAA

    Also read:   Maintain status quo on broadcast guidelines, Madras HC tells TRAI

    Also read:   TRAI tariff: Madras HC extends status quo; SC to hear regulator’s appeal on 16 Jan

  • Tariff order: Don’t notify without SC nod, TRAI told; Madras HC case to continue

    Tariff order: Don’t notify without SC nod, TRAI told; Madras HC case to continue

    NEW DELHI: Declining to stay proceedings in the Madras High Court, the Supreme Court today said the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India could continue with its work relating to consultation papers and tariff orders, but will not notify these without first referring them to the apex court.

    The apex court direction came on an appeal by TRAI against an order of the Madras High Court. When contacted by indiantelevision.com, TRAI said it has no comments to make on the Supreme Court directive or on the course of action in the high court.

    The high court had, on 12 January 2017, extended the status quo ordered by it on 23 December 2016 with regard to any tariff orders or regulations for the broadcast sector that related to copyrights issue. The HC was informed that India’s telecoms and broadcast regulator had filed an appeal in the Supreme Court. After today’s apex court directive, the case filed by Star TV and Vijay TV will come up in the Madras High Court as slated on 19 January 2017.

    The petitioner-broadcasters had sought to argue that the TRAI orders on tariff regulations were broadly in conflict with the Copyright Act 1957. Pending the full hearing of the case, TRAI would not be able to pass any guidelines for issues such as broadcast tariff, broadcast interconnect, etc.

    A few months ago, TRAI had issued draft guidelines on tariff, interconnect and quality of service wherein it had suggested various parameters for stakeholders of the broadcast and cable sectors.

    It may be recalled that the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) had said in a submission to the TRAI drafts last year that the exercise was in direct conflict with the provisions of the Copyright Act and other international copyrights laws, especially the Berne Convention. The IBF had said the Copyright Board is fully empowered to adjudicate upon disputes between any person and Content or Broadcast Reproduction Rights owners. Hence the Copyright Act and Rules provide for protection, monetisation, enforcement and adjudication procedures for all copyrightable work and broadcast reproduction rights.

    Meanwhile, weighing in with the IBF, Asian pay TV industry body CASBA today in a statement said that it has long expressed concern about India’s previous rate regulations, which included a cable retail price freeze imposed in 2004 “until the market became more competitive” and never revoked.

    Also read:   TRAI regulations threaten investment, warns CASBAA

    Also read:   Maintain status quo on broadcast guidelines, Madras HC tells TRAI

    Also read:   TRAI tariff: Madras HC extends status quo; SC to hear regulator’s appeal on 16 Jan

  • TRAI regulations threaten investment, warns CASBAA

    TRAI regulations threaten investment, warns CASBAA

    MUMBAI: CASBAA, the Association of Asia’s pay-TV Industry, today warmly applauded the judicial review now under way in India of proposed extension and tightening of India’s pay-TV rate regulations.

    The Madras High Court is currently reviewing the clash between the rights of copyright owners around the world and new tariff regulations proposed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). The court has ordered the TRAI not to give effect to the rules until the underlying issues are considered, with a hearing now set for January 19th.

    CASBAA CEO Christopher Slaughter observed that the new rules would be a major negative factor for the business environment in the $17 billion Indian media industry. “India’s pay-TV regulations have long been among the strictest in the world”, he said. “The proposed new rules are highly intrusive and would make the environment much worse. Such a heavy-handed regulatory regime will inevitably hit foreign companies’ interest in investing in India.”

    Indian law gives copyright owners the ability to price and sell their creative works. In filing the Madras suit, the petitioner broadcasting organizations denounced the TRAI regulation as contrary to these principles as enshrined in the law, and in international treaties to which India is a signatory. (The TRAI rules would establish a controlled price regime by mandating a la carte channel supply, setting the ceiling, by specific genres, that broadcasting organizations can charge to multichannel program distributors, limiting discounts, prescribing carriage fees, and stipulating a compulsory distribution fee to be paid by Broadcasting Organizations to multichannel program distributors.

    CASBAA has long expressed concern about India’s previous rate regulations, which included a cable retail price freeze imposed in 2004 “until the market became more competitive” and never revoked.

    “Today, India’s television content market is among the most competitive in the world,” said Slaughter. “Modern cable MSOs, six different DTH platforms and now online OTT television are all giving Indian consumers a wide range of viewing options.”

    CASBAA’s Chief Policy Officer John Medeiros observed that “As convergence and greater competition sweep the TV economy, other governments around the world are eliminating rate controls, to give more scope to competition among traditional and new online providers. In the last few years, Korea and Taiwan have both undertaken to liberalize their pay-TV price controls, leaving India as the last market economy in Asia with a hyper-regulatory regime. The proposed new rules would take India in the opposite direction from the rest of the world.

  • TRAI regulations threaten investment, warns CASBAA

    TRAI regulations threaten investment, warns CASBAA

    MUMBAI: CASBAA, the Association of Asia’s pay-TV Industry, today warmly applauded the judicial review now under way in India of proposed extension and tightening of India’s pay-TV rate regulations.

    The Madras High Court is currently reviewing the clash between the rights of copyright owners around the world and new tariff regulations proposed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). The court has ordered the TRAI not to give effect to the rules until the underlying issues are considered, with a hearing now set for January 19th.

    CASBAA CEO Christopher Slaughter observed that the new rules would be a major negative factor for the business environment in the $17 billion Indian media industry. “India’s pay-TV regulations have long been among the strictest in the world”, he said. “The proposed new rules are highly intrusive and would make the environment much worse. Such a heavy-handed regulatory regime will inevitably hit foreign companies’ interest in investing in India.”

    Indian law gives copyright owners the ability to price and sell their creative works. In filing the Madras suit, the petitioner broadcasting organizations denounced the TRAI regulation as contrary to these principles as enshrined in the law, and in international treaties to which India is a signatory. (The TRAI rules would establish a controlled price regime by mandating a la carte channel supply, setting the ceiling, by specific genres, that broadcasting organizations can charge to multichannel program distributors, limiting discounts, prescribing carriage fees, and stipulating a compulsory distribution fee to be paid by Broadcasting Organizations to multichannel program distributors.

    CASBAA has long expressed concern about India’s previous rate regulations, which included a cable retail price freeze imposed in 2004 “until the market became more competitive” and never revoked.

    “Today, India’s television content market is among the most competitive in the world,” said Slaughter. “Modern cable MSOs, six different DTH platforms and now online OTT television are all giving Indian consumers a wide range of viewing options.”

    CASBAA’s Chief Policy Officer John Medeiros observed that “As convergence and greater competition sweep the TV economy, other governments around the world are eliminating rate controls, to give more scope to competition among traditional and new online providers. In the last few years, Korea and Taiwan have both undertaken to liberalize their pay-TV price controls, leaving India as the last market economy in Asia with a hyper-regulatory regime. The proposed new rules would take India in the opposite direction from the rest of the world.