ITV

Tag: HITS Operator

  • TRAI issues draft regulations on register of interconnect agreements, wants comments by 25 April

    TRAI issues draft regulations on register of interconnect agreements, wants comments by 25 April

    New Delhi: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India today asked stakeholders to give their views on the periodicity and authenticity of the proposed register of interconnect agreements, apart from the format for such a register.

    Stakeholders have been asked to post their comments by 25 April with counter-comments, if any, by 5 May to a consultation paper and a draft of the Register of Interconnect Agreements (Broadcasting and Cable Services) Regulations 2016.

    The primary objective of register of interconnection regulations is to prescribe the contours of a reporting system to service providers to report interconnection agreement details to the Authority so as to enable it to maintain a register of interconnect agreements as per the provisions of TRAI Act. It is also useful for monitoring and analyzing market practices prevailing for interconnection agreements. Presently, the regulations mandate service providers to report the prescribed information annually.

    One clause of the draft register is for ‘Reporting of information, relating to interconnect agreements, by broadcaster of pay channel and the distributor of TV channel’. It says every broadcaster of pay channel and distributor of TV Channel shall report the information relating to all interconnect agreements entered into by them or modifications or amendments or addendums thereto which have been signed before and after coming into effect of the regulations that are valid as on the date of commencement of the regulations and shall be reported within one month for the previous ones and by tenth of the month for the new ones.

    A para on format of reports says: “Subject to the provisions contained in regulation 5 of the regulations, the broadcaster of pay channel and the distributor of TV Channel , as the case may be, shall furnish to the Authority, the information relating to the interconnect agreements in the formats specified in Schedule-I ( Format for broadcasters of pay channels), Schedule-II (Format for MSO and HITS Operator) or Schedule-III (Format DTH and IPTV Service provider) of the regulations as applicable.”

    Stakeholders have been asked to provide suggestions on this regulation of draft regulations and also the formats given in schedules and told that they can also suggest modified format for reporting to make it simple and easy to file.

    TRAI also wants comments on how it can be ensured that service providers report accurate details in compliance of regulations, and on digitally signed method of reporting the information.

    TRAI wants to know why all information including commercial portion of register should not be made accessible to any interested stakeholders, and if the commercial information is to be made accessible, in which way can this commercial information be made accessible to fulfill the objective of non-discrimination.

    If the commercial information is not made accessible to stakeholders, then in what form the provisions under clause (vii) and (viii) of Section 11 (1) (b) of TRAI Act be implemented in broadcasting and cable sector so that the objective of non-discrimination is also met simultaneously, the stakeholders have to state.

  • TRAI issues draft regulations on register of interconnect agreements, wants comments by 25 April

    TRAI issues draft regulations on register of interconnect agreements, wants comments by 25 April

    New Delhi: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India today asked stakeholders to give their views on the periodicity and authenticity of the proposed register of interconnect agreements, apart from the format for such a register.

    Stakeholders have been asked to post their comments by 25 April with counter-comments, if any, by 5 May to a consultation paper and a draft of the Register of Interconnect Agreements (Broadcasting and Cable Services) Regulations 2016.

    The primary objective of register of interconnection regulations is to prescribe the contours of a reporting system to service providers to report interconnection agreement details to the Authority so as to enable it to maintain a register of interconnect agreements as per the provisions of TRAI Act. It is also useful for monitoring and analyzing market practices prevailing for interconnection agreements. Presently, the regulations mandate service providers to report the prescribed information annually.

    One clause of the draft register is for ‘Reporting of information, relating to interconnect agreements, by broadcaster of pay channel and the distributor of TV channel’. It says every broadcaster of pay channel and distributor of TV Channel shall report the information relating to all interconnect agreements entered into by them or modifications or amendments or addendums thereto which have been signed before and after coming into effect of the regulations that are valid as on the date of commencement of the regulations and shall be reported within one month for the previous ones and by tenth of the month for the new ones.

    A para on format of reports says: “Subject to the provisions contained in regulation 5 of the regulations, the broadcaster of pay channel and the distributor of TV Channel , as the case may be, shall furnish to the Authority, the information relating to the interconnect agreements in the formats specified in Schedule-I ( Format for broadcasters of pay channels), Schedule-II (Format for MSO and HITS Operator) or Schedule-III (Format DTH and IPTV Service provider) of the regulations as applicable.”

    Stakeholders have been asked to provide suggestions on this regulation of draft regulations and also the formats given in schedules and told that they can also suggest modified format for reporting to make it simple and easy to file.

    TRAI also wants comments on how it can be ensured that service providers report accurate details in compliance of regulations, and on digitally signed method of reporting the information.

    TRAI wants to know why all information including commercial portion of register should not be made accessible to any interested stakeholders, and if the commercial information is to be made accessible, in which way can this commercial information be made accessible to fulfill the objective of non-discrimination.

    If the commercial information is not made accessible to stakeholders, then in what form the provisions under clause (vii) and (viii) of Section 11 (1) (b) of TRAI Act be implemented in broadcasting and cable sector so that the objective of non-discrimination is also met simultaneously, the stakeholders have to state.

  • TDSAT asks TRAI to examine HITS operators’ inter-connect agreements

    TDSAT asks TRAI to examine HITS operators’ inter-connect agreements

    NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), has now been asked to examine whether a broadcaster’s RIO should form the basis for negotiations to enter into an interconnect agreement with the distributor of signals.

     

    The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Arbitration Tribunal (TDSAT), which had earlier asked TRAI to re-examine the issue of Digital Addressable System (DAS) tariffs, also wants to know if the RIO is only a fall back basis in case the negotiations between the broadcaster and the distributor for entering into interconnect agreement otherwise fails.

     

    Summing up the issues that came up for consideration in two cases, the Tribunal asked whether an interconnect agreement between a broadcaster and a distributor of signals on a fixed fee basis, completely dehors the broadcaster’s RIO, can be said to be in accordance with the provisions of the Regulations.

     

    It also asked if it is open to the broadcaster to give discounts, concessions and facilities to distributors of signals on a deal to deal basis or is the broadcaster obliged to frame a standard scheme of discounts, concessions and facilities and make it public so that it may be available to all similarly situated distributors equally.

     

    The Tribunal also asked the status of a Headend In The Sky (HITS) operator vis-a-vis a broadcaster for the purpose of inter-connect arrangements, and whether a HITS operator is comparable to a large MSO operating on a pan India basis.

     

    TDSAT chairman Justice Aftab Alam along with members Kuldip Singh and B B Srivastava were examining two cases filed by Noida Software Technology Park Ltd against Media Pro and Taj Television.

     

    The Tribunal wanted a clear stand from TRAI and also directed that this order should be placed on the Tribunal website in the form of a notice with copies being sent to the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), MSO Alliance and DTH Operators’ Association, as any adjudication of these questions is likely to affect the broadcasting sector as a whole fundamentally.

     

    The Tribunal said it would be open to any stakeholders to intervene and address the Tribunal on the issue.

     

    Listing the matter for further hearing on 11 August, it said any applications for intervention may be filed within one week from today (30 July). 

  • TRAI issues new tariff order to balance consumer rate and broadcaster demands

    TRAI issues new tariff order to balance consumer rate and broadcaster demands

    NEW DELHI: In a major initiative aimed at simplifying tariffs and meeting demands of consumers, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) today issued a new tariff order which apart from fixing tariffs also amended the definition of addressable systems (DAS) as understood at present.
    The Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable) Services (Second) Tariff (Fourteenth Amendment) Order, 2015 said “addressable system” means an electronic device (which includes hardware and  its  associated  software)  or  more  than  one  electronic  device  put  in  an integrated system through which signals of digital addressable system can be sent in encrypted form, which can be decoded by the device or devices, having an activated Conditional Access System at the premises of the subscriber within the limits of authorisation made, through the Conditional Access System and the subscriber management system, on the explicit choice and request of such subscriber, by multi-system operator or DTH operator or IPTV operator or HITS operator  to the subscriber; and the expression “non-addressable system” shall be construed accordingly.
    The Order shall come into force on the date of its publication in the Official Gazette.
    The order also specifies that it will apply to specified states, cities, towns and areas notified from time to time and not the entire country.  
    The order has specified that if any new pay channel is launched or any free-to-air channel is converted to pay channel after the first day of January 2015, then the ceiling shall not apply if the new pay channel or pay channel converted from free-to-air to pay channel is provided on a standalone basis, either individually or as part of new, separate bouquet.The broadcaster shall declare the genre of its channels and such genre shall be either News and Current Affairs or Infotainment or Sports or Kids or Music or Lifestyle or Movies or Religious or Devotional or General Entertainment (Hindi) or General Entertainment (English) or General Entertainment (regional language).
    The rates of channels, referred to in the first proviso shall be similar to the rates of similar channels existing as on the date of such launch of new channel or such conversion of free-to-air channel into a pay channel and the ceiling of charges, specified under sub-clauses (a), (b) and (c) shall not, in any case, exceed by the rates of channels referred to in the third proviso.
    In case a multi system operator or a cable operator reduces the number of pay channels that were being shown on the date of coming into force of the Telecommunication(Broadcasting and Cable) Services (Second) Tariff (Fourteenth  Amendment) Order 2015, the ceiling shall be reduced taking into account the rate(s) of the channel(s) so removed. In the case of the commercial subscriber, for each television connection, the charges payable by the Ordinary cable subscriber under sub-clause (a), shall be the ceiling.

    If a commercial subscriber charges his customer or any person for a programme of a broadcaster shown within his premises, he shall, before he starts providing such service, enter into agreement with the broadcaster and the broadcaster may charge the commercial subscriber, for such programme, as may be agreed upon between them.
    The charges referred to in sub-clause (a) shall in no case exceed the maximum amount of charges specified in the Part I or Part II, as the case may be, of the Schedule annexed with this Order.”
    In determining the similarity of rates of similar channels referred to in the provisos below clause 3 above the following factors shall be taken into account:
    (i)  the genre and language of the new  pay or converted Free to Air  to pay channel; and
    (ii) the range of prices ascribed to the existing channels of similar genre and
    language in the price of a bouquet(s) and prices of bouquet(s) that exist.”
    Every broadcaster shall offer or cause to offer on non-discriminatory basis all its channels on a-la- carte basis to the multi system operator or the cable operator, as the case may be, and specify an a-la-carte rate, subject to provisions of sub-clause (2) of this  clause and clauses 3 and 3B, for each  pay channel offered by him.
    In case a broadcaster, in addition to offering all its channels on a-la-carte basis, provides, without prejudice to the provisions of sub-clause (1), to a multi system operator or to a cable operator, pay channels as part of a bouquet consisting only of pay channels or both pay and free to air channels, the rate for such bouquet and a-la-carte rates for such pay channels forming part of that bouquet shall be subject to the following conditions, namely:-
    (a) the sum of the a-la-carte rates of the pay channels forming part of such a bouquet shall in no case exceed one and half  times of the rate of that bouquet of which such pay channels are a part; and
    (b) the a-la-carte rates of each pay channel, forming part of such a bouquet, shall in no case   exceed three times the average   rate of a pay channel   of that bouquet of which such pay channel is  a part and the average rate of a pay channel of the bouquet be calculated in the following manner, namely:
    If the bouquet rate is Rs. ‘X’ per month per subscriber and the number of pay channels is ‘Y’ in a bouquet, then  the average pay channel rate of the bouquet shall be Rs. ‘X’ divided by number of pay channels ‘Y’:
    Provided that the composition of a bouquet existing as on the 1 day of December 2007, in so far as pay channels are concerned in that bouquet, shall not be changed: and nothing contained in the first proviso shall apply to those bouquets of channels existing on the first day of December 2007, which are required to be modified pursuant to the commencement of the Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable Services) Interconnection (Seventh Amendment) Regulation, 2014.
     
    If there is a bouquet, comprising of 10 channels of 3 broadcasters as per the following details.

    After  the  reconfiguration  the  bouquets  to  be  offered  by  the  individual broadcasters shall be as under:
    Broadcaster B shall offer the bouquet as per the following details

    Broadcaster C shall offer the bouquet as per the following details:

    While the Broadcaster A can offer channel 1 at a-la-carte rate of Rs. 2.”
    TRAI has aslo appended an Explanatory Memorandum which traces the history of discussions and orders over the last 11 years on its website trai.gov.in.