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Tag: Trai

  • Broadcasters raise concern over TRAI consultation paper to review channel pricing

    Broadcasters raise concern over TRAI consultation paper to review channel pricing

    MUMBAI: The recent decision by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to review the issues of pricing of channels has brought about concern among broadcasters, according to a report by IANS. Broadcasters fear that the new approach, barely eight months into the new tariff regime, will only discourage and disincentivise fresh investment into the sector, which can have dire consequences.

    TRAI had recently released a consultation paper, which noted that broadcasters have been offering discounts of up to 70 per cent for bouquets compared to a la carte rates causing discrepancies for consumers. The consultation paper looks into the issue of pricing of channels by broadcasters, cable operators and distribution platforms.

    The paper primarily discusses issues related to discounts in the formation of the bouquets, ceiling price of channels for inclusion in bouquet, need for formation of bouquet by broadcasters and DPOs, variable NCF and discounts on long term plan.

    However, analysts told IANS that the consultation paper ‘Tariff-related issues for broadcasting and cable services' relating to the new tariff order (NTO), which came into force from February 1, did not take into account that consumers across the world opt for bouquets rather than individual channels as the former are cheaper.

    Analysts and broadcasters have also stressed that broadcasting cannot be counted as an essential service and those who cannot afford premium TV have the affordable options of viewing Doordarshan and FreeDish. Smaller channels and networks may even face an "existential crisis" in case TRAI implements a fresh pricing model.

  • Broadcasters, DPOs misused new tariff order to throttle market discovery of channel prices: TRAI

    Broadcasters, DPOs misused new tariff order to throttle market discovery of channel prices: TRAI

    MUMBAI: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Friday issued a consultation paper on tariff related issues for Broadcasting and Cable services.

    The paper primarily discusses issues related to discounts given in the formation of the bouquets, ceiling price of channels for inclusion in bouquet, need for formation of bouquet by broadcasters and DPOs, variable NCF and discounts on long term plan.

    TRAI believes that the new regulatory framework has brought the transparency in TV channel pricing, harmonised business processes in the sector and reduced disputes among stakeholders. However, adequate choice to select TV channels has not been given to the consumers.

    “In all fairness, a lot was expected from broadcasters and DPOs to use flexibility given under new regulatory framework to address the concerns and aspirations of the consumers. However, given flexibility was misused to throttle market discovery of TV channel prices by giving huge discounts on the bouquets. It has been observed from the tariff declared by broadcasters under new regulatory framework that they are offering bouquets at a discount of up to 70 per cent of the sum of a-la-carte rates of pay channels constituting those bouquets,” reads TRAI’s latest notification.

    “It indicates that in absence of any restriction on the discount on the offering of bouquets, broadcasters are making prices of a-la-carte channels illusory thereby impacting the a-la-carte choice of channels by consumers. Further, no restriction on number of channels has created another problem wherein broadcasters and DPOs are offering too many bouquets,” the note further states.

    TRAI has observed that too many bouquets are formed by the broadcasters/DPOs and many of them contain very similar set of channels, with very few changes. This, according to the sector regulator, is not only creating confusion among consumers but also becoming a hurdle in choosing the channels.

    With too many bouquets of broadcasters and DPOs, consumers get confused and as a result are forced to adopt some suggested packs of TV channels, killing the freedom given to consumers to choose desired TV channels, feels the sector regulator .

    TRAI had extensive interactions with  stakeholders including consumers and consumer organizations, at various forums, wherein stakeholders have also raised certain issues such as variable NCF for different regions, NCF for Multi TV home, discount on long term plan, DD channels as part of one hundred channels etc.

     In order to deliberate upon above issues that have come post implementation of the new regime, the latest consultation paper has been floated seeking stakeholders' views.

  • TRAI intensifies efforts to overhaul TV audience measurement & ratings system

    TRAI intensifies efforts to overhaul TV audience measurement & ratings system

    MUMBAI: Stepping up efforts to improve India's television audience measurement and ratings system, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) last week invited sealed limited tenders for organising a Hackathon. Hackerearth, Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), Persistent Systems Ltd and Mettl were the four companies listed in the sector regulator's limited tender.

    TRAI said it intends to engage a reputed agency for the purpose of conducting a hackathon “to find out the possible solutions” for TV audience measurement and ratings in India, the mandate for which currently rests with BARC India.

    The eligible bidders shall conduct the hackathon on behalf of TRAI, covering all the technical, management, logistics and marketing aspects of it. The event will be conducted in two phases: online and offline.

    The online phase will be open for participants across India for submitting idea/synopsis based on the TRAI's objective. The shortlisted candidates will be invited to participate in phase-II, which will be offline. In this phase participants will build on their ideas in a 36-hour Hackathon in Bengaluru and present their final solutions.

    While the tender was floated on 9 August, the last date for receipt of the order is 16 August. As per the regulator’s instructions, the successful bidder shall complete the Hackathon within a period of 45 days from the date of award of work.

    The role of hire /selected agency in the Hackathon would be as follows:

    · Organise and execute the hackathon

    · Assisting TRAI in defining problem statement

    · Provide platform for hackathon

    · Develop hackathon webpage for registration and submission of ideas

    · Arrangements for publicity of hackathon through different mediums including social media

    · Identification, coordination and inviting participants/teams for hackathon

    · Evaluate the ideas submitted in phase-I

    · Invite and co-ordinate all participants/teams shortlisted in phase-I for

    · Participating in phase-Il

    · Organise the on-ground logistics for Phase-Il

    · Identify jury members from the industry

    · Assist TRAI in evaluating and judging the final solutions to the problem statement in phase-Il.

    In December 2018, TRAI issued a consultation paper on "Review of Television Audience Measurement and Ratings in India" seeking comments from the stakeholders.

    In addition to that, Open House Discussions (OHDs) on the consultation paper were conducted in New Delhi and Mumbai.

    Stakeholders in their written comments and during OHDs highlighted issues related to the development of technological solutions for TV audience measurement without manual intervention.

  • TRAI issues draft regulation to facilitate consumer choice of TV channels using API

    TRAI issues draft regulation to facilitate consumer choice of TV channels using API

    MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Friday issued the draft (Second Amendment) to the Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable) Services Standards of Quality of Service and Consumer Protection (Addressable Systems) Regulations 2017. Through this draft regulation (second amendment), TRAI is seeking the comments of stakeholders on the issue of developing of app by third parties and consequent sharing of information using Application Program Interface (API) between DPOs and consumers.

    The new tariff order rolled out in the beginning of this year put power in consumers’ hand to select television channels they want to watch. To ensure proper implementation of the new framework, the authority has made a number of efforts such as series of meetings with DPOs, publicity in electronic and news media, interactions with customer groups etc. Despite all the efforts, it has been brought to notice of the authority that consumers are not able to make real choice of TV channels.

    “It was noticed that quite a few DPO platforms were not providing adequate freedom and choice to consumers. Customers also complained that the call centre of DPOs are also not helping to facilitate consumer choice of the channels,” TRAI said in a release.

    To resolve the issues, the authority felt need to have channel selection system developed by third party to facilitate easy channel selection by consumers. As per TRAI, since the third party app will be accessible by every customer of Broadcasting & Cables Services sector,  it will facilitate easy choice to consumers.

    To facilitate functioning of third-party apps, TRAI created channel selection system API specifications document which prescribed common APIs with all distribution platform operators (DPO). TRAI intends to mandate all the DPOs to compulsorily share information with the apps after authenticating the subscriber so that such apps can help in easy selection of the required TV channels.

    The newly issued draft regulation (second amendment) issued shall be open for comments of the stakeholders up to 22 August. 

  • SC denies stay on TRAI’s appeal against TDSAT’s landing page order

    SC denies stay on TRAI’s appeal against TDSAT’s landing page order

    MUMBAI: While Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Thursday filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) order on landing pages, the apex court has denied any stay on the order on Friday. The matter has been listed for next hearing on 12 September.

    Justice Arun Mishra and Justice MR Shah issued notices to all the parties while hearing the case between TRAI, and Bennett Coleman and Co and others.

    The sector regulator’s action comes in the wake of TDSAT, by virtue of its 29 May order, setting aside TRAI’s 3 December directive to broadcasters and distribution platform operators (DPOs) to refrain from placing registered television channel, TV rating is released by BARC India, on the landing page or boot up screen.

    According to TRAI, its order was aimed at protecting the interest of service providers and consumers while ensuring orderly growth of the sector. This, however, was successfully challenged by Bennett Coleman & Co and others in TDSAT.

    “In our considered view, the impugned directions are beyond the provisions of the act, which empowers TRAI to issue directions. Therefore, the impugned directions must be set aside on this point alone. We order accordingly,” TDSAT chairperson Justice S K Singh and member AK Bhargava said.

    A series of controversies have been triggered post the landmark TDSAT order that resulted in disruption in viewership measurement of channels with a relatively smaller audience like English news.

  • TRAI files appeal against TDSAT’s landing page judgment in Supreme Court

    TRAI files appeal against TDSAT’s landing page judgment in Supreme Court

    MUMBAI: In a move that can have far-reaching implications for India's broadcasting sector, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Thursday filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) order on landing pages. A bench headed by HMJ Arun Mishra will hear the matter, listed as item 21, today.

    The sector regulator’s action comes in the wake of TDSAT, by virtue of its 29 May order, setting aside TRAI’s 3 December directive to broadcasters and distribution platform operators (DPOs) to refrain from placing registered television channel, TV rating is released by BARC India, on the landing page or boot up screen.

    According to TRAI, its order was aimed at protecting the interest of service providers and consumers while ensuring orderly growth of the sector. This, however, was successfully challenged by Bennett Coleman & Co. and other in TDSAT.

    “In our considered view, the impugned directions are beyond the provisions of the act, which empowers TRAI to issue directions. Therefore, the impugned directions must be set aside on this point alone. We order accordingly,” TDSAT Chairperson Justice S K Singh and Member AK Bhargava said.

    A series of controversies have been triggered post the landmark TDSAT order that resulted in disruption in viewership measurement of channels with a relatively smaller audience like English news.

    Data for week 22, first since the landing page ruling, saw CNN News 18 upset the English news apple cart to top the chart, followed by Republic TV, Times Now, DD India and India Today Television.

    BARC switched back to its previous methodology from week 23 onward claiming it had received multiple representations from stakeholders and the mandate of its board.

    BARC’s flip-flip with its outlier policy implementation further fueled the landing page row, raising concerns among stakeholders.

    Reacting to stakeholders’ issues, the BARC board gave its nod to form a two-member committee to carry out an independent review of BARC’s data validation and outlier policy.

    With opinion divided within the industry, some broadcasters have also written letters, highlighting the negative impact of landing pages, to TRAI and BARC’s technical committee.

    With the matter now landing up in the top court, industry will be hoping to get more clarity on this very controversial issue.

  • Is there a slow but steady decline in English news ratings?

    Is there a slow but steady decline in English news ratings?

    BENGALURU: Is viewership of the English news genre dipping? Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India recommenced publishing limited viewership data in the public domain on TRAI’s coercion in week 13 of 2019 after it had ostentatiously stopped doing so to allow ratings to stabilise after implementation of TRAI’s new tariff order from week 6 of 2019. Then in week 23 of 2019, BARC announced that it was reverting to an older method of treatment of the landing pages and outliers. The weeks following week 13 of 2019 have seen two major cricket tourneys being played – the twelfth season of the Indian Premier League in India and the ICC World Cup in England and Wales. Both the tourneys involved matches that overlapped primetime in India. Many parts of the country have been hit by bad weather over the past few weeks. Or is it just that there were a number of weeks that were just too hot before the torrential rains that inundated many parts of India? A BARC paper in the past suggested that weather affects television viewership. The implementation of the new regulatory framework and BARC’s treatment of outlier data are two other factors that also need to be kept in mind when analysing the scenario. One can also make a case for greater viewership interest in the run up to the elections, which now seems to be on the decline. It would be interesting to study if other genres have also been adversely affected.

    Please refer to the figure below for the combined weekly impressions of the top five English news channels between weeks 13 and the week under review – week 30 (Saturday, 20 July 2019 to Friday, 26 July 2019). The dotted yellow trendline indicates a slow but steady decline in viewership of the top 5 English news channels between weeks 13 and 30 of 2019. As is obvious, weeks 21 and 22 are the anomalies in the decline – news viewership peaked because of the announcement of the results of the national elections.

    It is interesting to note that since the entry of pubcaster Doordarshan’s English news channel DD India into BARC’s weekly list of top 5 English news channels, the channels appearing in the list have been the same, with a slight tweaking in the ranks sometimes. Over the past few weeks, there seems to have been some stabilisation in ranks one, two and three with the Arnab Goswami-led Republic at first place, Times Now at second place and DD India at third place. The jostle for ranks four and five is still on between CNN News India and India Today Television. Please refer to the figure below:

    Please refer to the figure below for ratings of the top 5 English news channels.

    Ratings of English news channels for week 30 of 2019

    The combined ratings of the top five English news channels increased 4.8 percent in week 30 of 2019 to 1.896 million weekly impressions from a low of 1.809 million weekly impressions in week 29. The list of channels and their ranks were the same in week 30 as week 29 of 2019.

    Republic TV led the English news genre with ratings of 0.574 million weekly impressions in week 30 of 2019 as compared to 0.564 million weekly impressions in the previous week. At second rank, Times Now scored 0.411 million weekly impressions during the week under review as compared to 0.404 million weekly impressions in week 29 of 2019. At third rank was DD India with 0.400 million weekly impressions in week 30 of 2019 as compared to 0.367 million weekly impressions in week 29. At fourth rank was CNN News18 with 0.283 million weekly impressions in week 30 of 2019 as compared to 0.264 million weekly impressions in week 29. Completing the quintet at fifth rank was India Today Television with 0.228 million weekly impressions in week 30 of 2019 as compared to 0.210 million weekly impressions in the previous week. 

  • TDSAT allows news channel Kashish Developers to approach TRAI in Tata Sky target area case

    TDSAT allows news channel Kashish Developers to approach TRAI in Tata Sky target area case

    MUMBAI: The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has allowed news channel Kashish Developers Ltd to pursue its representation before the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) regarding the target area of direct-to-home (DTH) operator Tata Sky.

    While the news channel operating mainly in Bihar and Jharkhand has yet not accepted to sign the RIO agreement with Tata Sky as required under the new regulations of 2017, the tribunal contended that there is no challenge to the regulations or to the RIO. According to TDSAT, the main challenge appears to be the wisdom of the TRAI in giving liberty to DTH operators to declare their target areas. 

    Earlier, Kashish Developers’s learned counsel argued that the target area for the petitioner’s news channels should confine to Bihar and Jharkhand otherwise it may lose on account of lack of pan-India penetration. On the other hand, Tata Sky’s learned counsel submitted that being a DTH platform it has no option but to treat the target area even in respect of the petitioner’s channel as a pan-India channel.  

    “In the facts of the case, we are of the considered view that the issues relating to wisdom of the policy can be considered effectively only by the regulator,” the latest order by TDSAT read. Kashish Developers Ltd has already approached TRAI with a representation filed on 29 June.

    “In the aforesaid facts, the petition along with pending MAs is disposed of with liberty to the petitioner to pursue its representation.  It will also be at liberty to file further representation, if required, with a copy of this order.  TRAI is expected to dispose of the representation expeditiously in accordance with law,” the order added.

  • TRAI vs Independent TV: DTH operator questioned by regulator over consumer complaints

    TRAI vs Independent TV: DTH operator questioned by regulator over consumer complaints

    MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has asked DTH operator Independent TV to provide information related to pending refund of consumers due to non-provision of services. It has five days to respond to the regulator.

    In its recent notification, TRAI directed independent TV to ensure the compliance of various provisions of the new regulatory framework for broadcasting and cable TV services. The authority has asked the DTH operator to give information on the following issues for the six months up to 30 June 2019:

    a) How many connection requests are pending beyond seven days after receipt of payments/subscription from the consumers?

    b) How many complaints are still pending regarding refund not provided?

    c) In how many cases the refund has been provided to the consumer due to non-provision of services despite collecting the money in advance? Give the number of cases along with the amount refunded.

    d) Whether any channel has been removed from your platform without giving prior intimation to the consumer.

    e) Whether the services have been resumed after the blackout issue.

    f) Whether any rebate has been provided to the affected subscribers during the blackout period. If yes, how much rebate has been provided?

    In its direction to Independent TV, the authority informed that it has received numerous consumer complaints wherein the subscribers have complained that Independent TV has discontinued channels opted for by the subscribers and that the operator is neither providing services to the consumers despite collecting the money in advance nor any refund has been made to the consumers.

    The company was launched in 2018 and was active in the state of Uttar Pradesh and had 26 distributors in just Meerut and Saharanpur division. It had more than 90 thousand subscribers in the division.

    Independent TV’s services were supposed to resume on 3 July. The company’s case is pending in the TDSAT. The authority had ordered Independent TV to clear its dues to Antrix by 12 June or face disconnection.

  • Independent TV questioned by TRAI over pending refund of consumers

    Independent TV questioned by TRAI over pending refund of consumers

    MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has asked DTH operator Independent TV to provide information related to pending refund of consumers due to non-provision of services. It has five days to respond to the regulator.

    In its recent notification, TRAI directed independent TV to ensure the compliance of various provisions of the new regulatory framework for broadcasting and cable TV services. The authority has asked the DTH operator to give information on the following issues for the six months up to 30 June 2019:

    a) How many connection requests are pending beyond seven days after receipt of payments/subscription from the consumers?

    b) How many complaints are still pending regarding refund not provided?

    c) In how many cases the refund has been provided to the consumer due to non-provision of services despite collecting the money in advance? Give the number of cases along with the amount refunded.

    d) Whether any channel has been removed from your platform without giving prior intimation to the consumer.

    e) Whether the services have been resumed after the blackout issue.

    f) Whether any rebate has been provided to the affected subscribers during the blackout period. If yes, how much rebate has been provided?

    In its direction to Independent TV, the authority informed that it has received numerous consumer complaints wherein the subscribers have complained that Independent TV has discontinued channels opted for by the subscribers and that the operator is neither providing services to the consumers despite collecting the money in advance nor any refund has been made to the consumers.

    The company was launched in 2018 and was active in the state of Uttar Pradesh and had 26 distributors in just Meerut and Saharanpur division. It had more than 90 thousand subscribers in the division.

    Independent TV’s services were supposed to resume on 3 July. The company’s case is pending in the TDSAT. The authority had ordered Independent TV to clear its dues to Antrix by 12 June or face disconnection.