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Tag: Trai

  • TRAI: Almost 100% cable consumers have picked channels in new tariff regime

    TRAI: Almost 100% cable consumers have picked channels in new tariff regime

    MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) held a meeting on Friday with distribution platform operators (DPOs) where it was informed that almost all cable consumers have either made their channel preferences or moved to ‘best fit plan’ under the new tariff regime, according to a report by the Press Trust of India.

    The meeting was attended by multi-system operators (MSO) and all major DTH players to review the progress of migration of TV viewers under the new framework.

    TRAI secretary SK Gupta said, "According to inputs received by the regulator from players, in the case of DTH services, about 43 per cent customers have made their channel preferences known. When combined with statistics for ‘best fit plan’, this number rises to 57 per cent."

    The DTH service providers have submitted to TRAI that all subscribers of this prepaid platform will be migrated to the new framework in the next 2-3 weeks. TRAI has also emphasised to players that customers should not face any inconvenience or service disruption during the migration process.

    Earlier this month, the regulator had extended the timeline for consumers to make their channel preferences till 31 March 2019.

    “TRAI is urging subscribers to exercise their options to select TV channels of their choice, immediately. DPOs have been instructed to execute the options of subscribers at the earliest,” he said.

  • TRAI directs DPOs to refrain from placing channels outside the genre

    TRAI directs DPOs to refrain from placing channels outside the genre

    MUMBAI: After receiving complaints from TV18 and TV Today Network against Republic Bharat, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has directed all distribution platform operators (DPOs) to refrain from placing channels outside their genres.

    TV18 and TV Today Network had written to TRAI that the newly launched Republic Bharat is being placed outside the Hindi news genre to garner higher viewership.

    TRAI stated, “The authority has received many complaints alleging transmission of television channels on dual LCN or placement of television channels by the distributors of TV channels, out of the genre declared by the broadcaster.”

    The TRAI regulations require every broadcaster to declare the genre of its channels such as ‘devotional’, ‘general entertainment’, ‘infotainment’, ‘kids’, ‘movies’, ‘music’, ‘news and current affairs’, ‘sports’ or ‘miscellaneous’.

    It is also mandatory for the distributor to place channels in the electronic programme guide, in such a way that the television channels of same genre, as declared by the broadcasters, are placed together consecutively and one channel shall appear at one place only. The authority has also said that action will be taken against such distributors who fail to comply with the regulations.

    “Now, therefore, the authority, in exercise of the powers conferred upon it under section 13, read with clause (b) of sub-section (I) of section 11, of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997 (24 of 1997) and in order to protect the interest of service providers and consumers and ensure orderly growth of the sector, hereby directs all distributors of the television channels to ensure that the television channels of same genre, as declared by the broadcasters, are placed together consecutively and one channel shall appear at one place only failing which action shall be taken against such distributors, under the provisions of TRAI Act, 1997,” TRAI concluded.

  • TRAI says TV industry saw 12.24% growth in FY 2018

    TRAI says TV industry saw 12.24% growth in FY 2018

    MUMBAI: While the global scenario reflects an impending death for TV in India soon, factors like rising OTT platforms and cheaper data rates, are also adding fuel to the fire. However, as per the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Annual Report 2017-18, the TV sector revenue in the country has recorded a growth of 12.24 per cent since last year.

    Even though the growth of data usage by wireless subscribers has reached a new level showing unprecedented growth, the revenue of the TV industry grew from Rs 58.8 crore to Rs 66 crore.
    Indian consumers are still showing willingness to pay for their content as TV subscription revenue plays the major share (59.5 per cent) in the overall industry revenues. It also witnessed a decent hike; from Rs 38.7 crore in 2016-17 to Rs 39.3 crore in 2017-18.

    The cable TV segment came out as the largest of the TV service sector with an estimated subscriber base of around 98.5 million subscribers. The subscriber base in the last fiscal was 92 million.

    Advertisement revenue also showed an upward trend, growing 32.8 percent-from Rs 20.1 crore to Rs 26.7 crore-during the year. DTH attained a net active subscriber base of around 67.53 million.

    The report also revealed that the radio industry is entirely dependent on advertisement revenues and has registered a growth of around 6.03 per cent during the year 2017-18. Advertisement revenues have also risen from Rs 20.46 crore10 in 2016-17 to Rs 21.7 crore in year 2017-18.

     

  • IAMAI suggests advertisers pay 0.25% of media spends to strengthen BARC measurement

    IAMAI suggests advertisers pay 0.25% of media spends to strengthen BARC measurement

    MUMBAI: Presenting counter comments to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) consultation paper on BARC TV viewership measurement, the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has said that advertisers can pay 0.25 per cent of their media spends for TV viewership measurement every year. It will not only help them in making judicious investments but will also largely contribute to the process of increasing panel size for audience measurement.

    The association noted this in response to the question asking about methodologies and technologies to rapidly increase the panel size for television audience measurement and the related commercial challenges. It wrote, “Use of multiple technologies such as peoplemeter, RPD, channel video players, softwares measuring the consumption of OTT and data modelling should help increase the overall sample size without commensurate increase in the costs. Advertisers can pay 0.25 per cent of their media spend for measurement every year to make the currency more robust which in-turn helps them to make judicious investments.”

    IAMAI also stated that it feels Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) and The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) members, who hold 20 per cent share each in BARC, are not much involved in the currency.

    It mentioned in its counter comments, “At present, IBF owns 60 per cent of BARC and 20 per cent each is owned by AAAI and ISA. As a result, IBF has a greater say in the functioning of BARC. However, globally, higher percentage of revenue is contributed by media owners.”

    “In past TRAI consulting papers, most contributions also came from the media owners. It seems ISA and AAAI members are not that involved with overall currency. Consultation with these constituents may help ensure equal contribution in functioning of BARC by all the three industry bodies, irrespective of the share of revenue contributed. Presently it is felt that with 60 per cent share IBF controls day-to-day functioning of BARC and future course of action,” the comment further read.

    IAMAI also vouched for introducing a competitive currency of viewership management; one based on peoplemeter and the other based on RPD.

    It noted, “We can do this for different types of data, whether from the set-top box in the home or mobile services that enable subscriber viewing on tablets or phones. This will add Digital Viewership Measurement, which is currently missing.”

    “The 2nd study of RPD can be done with Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), who represents most of the digital media and publishers, in partnership with relevant stakeholders,” its comment mentioned.

    Most of the broadcasters, in their responses to the paper, had denied the need of introducing competition in the viewership measurement domain, citing reasons like it would lead to chaos and duplication of data and skewing of results to the convenience of a few stakeholders.

    TRAI had released the said consultation paper in December last year to seek suggestions on how the existing TV viewership management system can be made more robust. It asked several important questions to various stakeholders, including if the current measuring system is apposite, should the sample size of the population be increased, and related commercial viabilities of the responses.

    The stakeholders were asked to file the comments by 2 January and counter comments by 16 January. However, the dates were further extended to 2 February and 16 February, respectively.

  • Tata Sky favours multiple agencies for TV audience measurement

    Tata Sky favours multiple agencies for TV audience measurement

    MUMBAI: Tata Sky, one of the leading DTH operators in India has suggested Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) that there should be multiple rating agencies. The competition will bring in new technologies and new methods in analysis.

    “Yes, multiple rating agencies need to be promoted. Competition will  bring in new technologies, new research methodologies, new methods in analysis, new and better ways to ensure better data quality,” Tata Sky has said in its submission to a consultation paper on TV audience measurement floated by TRAI.

    On the contrary, GTPL Hathway believes that there is no need for competition in the television rating services to ensure transparency and accuracy.

    “If more television ratings agencies are allowed to compete then the sample size will reduce and might even get scattered demographically. Therefore to ensure transparency and accuracy, there is no need for competition in the television rating services,” GTPL Hathway stated.

    The DTH player also commented that BARC India is not transparent regarding sharing the methodology and the representation of the panel home amongst the various platform types.

    Both Tata Sky and GTPL Hathway suggested that the BARC shareholding body should also include members representing the DPO/DTH/OTT platform body.

    To address the issue of panel tampering/infiltration, GTPL Hathway suggested to increase the sample size of the panel household significantly, which will reduce the impact of tampering on overall TV ratings, which in turn will reduce the temptation to tamper with the panel homes.

    Tata Sky argues that there is an under representation of DTH customers amongst the existing panel homes and BARC has taken no steps to publish a list for transparency. The representation of HD homes also needs correction.

    On the question whether BARC India should be permitted to provide raw level data to broadcasters, the MSO said, “We agree with TRAI’s view that release of raw data to broadcasters may potentially compromise on secrecy of households and sanctity of the data. The proposition that availability of raw data would help in giving the broadcaster sharper insights into viewership behavior is not sufficient to take such a huge security risk. There are other ways of sharper insights into viewership behavior such as AI."

    "Provisioning of raw level data to broadcasters will definitely contravene the policy guidelines for television rating agencies prescribed by MIB. The accreditation system mentioned by MIB requires secrecy of panel households, while release of raw data to broadcasters may potentially compromise secrecy of households", GTPL Hathway stated.

  • TRAI vs Tata Sky: Delhi High Court adjourns case to 11 March

    TRAI vs Tata Sky: Delhi High Court adjourns case to 11 March

    MUMBAI: The Delhi High Court on Thursday adjourned Tata Sky’s ongoing legal battle, in which Discovery,  Bharti Telemedia-owned Airtel Digital TV and Sun Direct are a part, with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India(TRAI) and its new tariff regime to 11 March.

    Recently, the regulator extended the deadline for consumers to select television channels under its new tariff regime till 31 March. The subscribers that don’t opt for new channels would be moved to ‘Best Fit Plans’, which would be developed as per usage pattern, language and channel popularity, the sector regulator said in its statement.

    TRAI chairman RS Sharma addressed a press conference couple of weeks back in Delhi, rubbishing a Crisil report that claimed that cable and DTH bills were bound to increase after the implementation of the tariff order.

    Earlier, Indian Society of Advertisers' (ISA) executive council also advised its members to not use the BARC data for media buying, planning and evaluation perspective during the transition period, which it feels will stretch up to six weeks.

    On 4 February, after senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, representing Tata Sky, concluded his arguments including legal submissions, Discovery India Communication’s counsel Gopal Jain laid the foundation for his arguments.

    The regulator informed the court that the new tariff order has already been implemented from 1 February.

    Earlier TRAI had offered an extension till 31 January to distribution platform operators (DPOs) for implementation.

    On 24 January, the Harit Nagpal-led company finally unveiled the new pricing of channels and packs after it was served a show-cause notice by the TRAI.

    TRAI's show-cause notice said, "Tata Sky has failed to provide options to its 17.7 million subscribers in compliance with the new framework to exercise their choices for TV channels. Tata Sky has put its subscribers in a situation of great difficulty despite no fault of theirs by not complying with the provisions of the new regulations and the tariff order.”

    Despite the delay in announcing channel prices, Tata Sky MD and CEO Nagpal is confident that his team can complete the tricky task of implementing the new norms within a relatively short span of time.

    “Tata Sky has always been compliant to regulatory requirements. We have gone live with our modes of communication across the Tata Sky website, Tata Sky mobile app and also equipped the dealers that subscribers can reach out to. We were confident that we would be able to complete the task in 1 week’s time. Hence we used this time to a seamless and smooth transition for all our subscribers. We have ensured that choosing channels and packs is as easy as 1, 2, 3 for any subscriber,” the veteran executive said.

    On 29 January, the Calcutta High Court stayed the cable switchover till 18 February. The court’s directive was a result of 80 cable operators from the city filing a petition against the TRAI mandate. However, the high court later vacated the stay.

    The petitioners’ lawyer Debabrata Saha Roy argued that the revenue-sharing model under the new regime will significantly reduce the cable operators’ share to just nine per cent. With 80 per cent going into the broadcasters’ kitty, MSOs stand to get just 11 per cent, thus making it an unsustainable business proposition for operators.

    In 2017, Bharti Telemedia, Tata Sky and Discovery Communication India had filed petitions against TRAI, challenging its tariff order and the interconnect regulations.

    Unlike the position adopted by Star India wherein it questioned the regulatory powers of TRAI, the matter in the Delhi HC questions the regulator’s power to wipe out deals that operators enter into to fix commissions and rates for customers.

  • BARC exhorts TRAI to strengthen existing TV audience measurement system

    BARC exhorts TRAI to strengthen existing TV audience measurement system

    MUMBAI: Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC), the country’s premier TV audience data measurer, has suggested to the Indian regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) that having more multiple measurement and ratings mechanisms may not be “advisable” and could create confusion. Instead, it was better to invest further in the existing currency with the goal to make it more robust.

    “Having more than one ratings service/currency would not be in the interests of industry, and, hence is not desirable. Instead of increasing number of ratings agencies, it would be advisable to invest in the existing system and make it even more robust and accurate,” BARC India has said in its submission to a consultation paper on TV audience measurement overhaul  floated by the TRAI.

    Making a case to further boost the functioning of BARC India, the organisation has said steps were needed to be taken to “increase the sample/panel through cost effective technologies” like sample return path data (SRPD).

    “TV viewership measurement systems across most mature markets are carried out by a single agency. The existence of more than one rating agencies (and currency) will create confusion and will lead to inefficiency in the market. When there are more than one data sets for a same set of channels, it leads to ambiguity,” BARC India has argued.

    TRAI had floated a consultation paper on ‘Review of Television Audience Measurement and Ratings in India’ on 3 December 2018 seeking feedback from stakeholders with a view to examine various aspects of the system, which is presently done by BARC India that is a joint venture amongst three industry organisations — the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA). The original deadline for making submissions was extended on request from the stakeholders.

    Arguing against promoting more competition in the audience measurement eco-system, BARC India has cited international media reports relating to this particular issue in the Philippines.
    “Philippines presents a typical example of confusion and ambiguity in market due to presence of more than one measurement agency. TV measurement in the Philippines is conducted by Kantar Media Philippines and AGB Nielsen Media Research Philippines. Data produced by the two companies are often used by competing channels to claim leadership,” BARC India has argued.

    Pointing out that accuracy of data can be ensured through larger panel that can, inter alia, be sustained by industry, BARC India has tried to put things in context by highlighting the US TV industry sustains a panel of 108900 individuals with a TV adex of $68 billion, while in India BARC India “runs a panel of 135,000 individuals with adex of approximately $4 billion”.

    However, for a more robust system to be in place, which will also strengthen BARC India, the organisation has said “regulatory and government support” was essential and the support should involve “mandating digital platform operators (DTH and cable), as well as TV OEM manufacturers (of smart TV sets), to share return path data from samples to measurement provider”.

    “To make data more accurate, there are steps required that go beyond the remit and domain of BARC. Legal and punitive framework to weed out panel tampering will go a long way in building further acceptance of our data,” BARC India has stated, reiterating its position on been backed by some legal teeth to fight attempts of data infiltrations and manipulation.

    While admitting that a high-tech landscape like audience measurement needed to constantly evolve as newer consumption and distribution modes and technologies were emerging (for example, digital consumption, proliferation of OTT platforms, etc), BARC India has made it clear it was exploring SRPD, second generation metre with newer detection techniques, and other technological solutions for TV measurement.

    “BARC India has also made progress in building capability to measure digital consumption with the goal of providing industry with cross platform and cross device video consumption: linear and time shifted, broadcast and digital. We have a strong foundation, established credibility and necessary transparency and accountability framework on which we can build further with emerging and suitable technologies,” the measurement organisation stated.

  • Broadcasters support return of RPD in BARC measurement module

    Broadcasters support return of RPD in BARC measurement module

    MUMBAI: Broadcasters have shown unified support towards the need to improve the current audience measurement technique used by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC).

    In their responses to the multiple queries that TRAI had put forth in a consultation paper broadcasters—ABP News Network, Sony Pictures Network, and Discovery Communications India–have contended that the introduction of Return Path Data (RPD) vide digital set-top boxes (STB) will improve the measurement process. They also noted that raw data should be provided to the broadcasters as it will help them in improving their efficiency.

    Another point raised by the broadcasters is that there should be an increase in the number of sample homes used for collecting data. Discovery Communications India noted, “All STBs should facilitate RPD technology, however, the same can be considered to be done in phases. The additional cost would only be limited to include the requisite software and hardware to support the technology.”

    However, the broadcasters did not propose any change in the stakeholding pattern of BARC. Currently, IBF has 60 per cent shareholding while the ISA and AAAI hold 20 per cent each in BARC. They also declined the need to introduce competition in the viewership measurement domain. Discovery Communications India stated that it would lead to chaos and duplication of data while Sony Pictures Networks said it will lead to skewing of results to the convenience of a few stakeholders.

    Responding to the query if DPOs should be mandated to facilitate the collection of viewership data, broadcasters differed. While ABP News Network denied the possibility completely stating that it might lead to data tampering, Discovery Communications India supported the idea saying, “As the subscriber data is already available with them hence it would make the process time efficient and the process easier in toto.”

    Sony Pictures said, “In order for the data collection process to be fair, neutral and immune from any bias, all interested parties including DPOs should be kept outside of the process. However, if DPOs are mandated to roll out hybrid STBs or RPD technology to capture viewership data for greater reach resulting the data should directly reach BARC or else there could be scope for manipulation as discussed above (DPO to act as a pure pass-through). Hence, stringent technology and security checks should be deployed to ensure that the data is not manipulated.”

    In addition to this, Sony Pictures also asked for the draft Personal Data Protection Bill 2018, proposed by the Justice Srikrishna Committee, to be complied with to ensure the privacy of individual information while data collection for viewership counts.

    TRAI had released the said consultation paper in December last year, seeking responses of the various stakeholders to several pertinent questions related to TV viewership measurement. The consultation was a result of various stakeholder meetings asking to improve the existing BARC mentoring format. The last date to file the responses was extended by a month to 2 February on 28 December 2018.

  • TRAI to take action against errant service providers

    TRAI to take action against errant service providers

    MUMBAI: In order to address customer concerns regarding the new tariff regime that came into effect from 1 February, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has taken considerable steps to educate and inform people.

    Noting that several service providers have not been active in getting people migrated, it has, according to a report by Telecom Talk, said that customers who are grappling with faulty connections can lodge a complaint at a designated call centre.

    The authority even stated that if there is no word from the operator even after making a claim, subscribers won’t have to pay after 72 hours. After witnessing the issues being faced by customers, TRAI extended the date for choosing packs till 31 March and even asked operators to ensure that those who have prepaid for their connections should not suffer any cable loss. The least that can be done is to temporarily move people to packs which are close enough to their previous choice.

    TRAI has also taken similar steps to address the concern of exorbitant rates being charged by DTH and cable operators for service charges. It has capped cable charges to Rs 200-300 and DTH at Rs 500.

    A few days ago, TRAI said that about 6.5 crore cable and 2.5 crore DTH homes have been migrated to the new regime. This means 9 crore out of the total 17 crore TV homes in the country have successfully adopted new plans. It had said that it will take up massive consumer awareness programmes through print, social media, ads and other programmes to ensure the message reaches out to consumers.

    It even told operators that in cases of a second TV connection in the same home, they have the option to forgo or provide a discount on the base charge of Rs 130.

  • TV18 complains to TRAI about Republic Bharat being placed outside its genre

    TV18 complains to TRAI about Republic Bharat being placed outside its genre

    MUMBAI: TV18 Broadcast has written a letter to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) against the recently launched Hindi news channel Republic Bharat. The complaint is regarding the channel being placed outside the Hindi news genre to drive up viewership.

    “The action of placing ‘Republic Bharat’ of ARG Outlier Media outside its relevant genre is also a violation of authority’s broadcasting regulation as framed by the Authority (specially , sub-regulations 2 of regulation 18 of the Telecommunication (Broadcasting and cable) Services Interconnection (Addressable Systems) Regulations, 2017) and as such, impermissible,” TV18 said in the complaint.

    It is believed that other competing Hindi news channels have also complained to the TRAI on the use of non-Hindi news genre by Republic Bharat.

    The broadcaster has also provided the names of cable TV platforms that are carrying Republic Bharat on non-Hindi news genres. It has also provided sample photographs as proof. It has requested TRAI to investigate the matter and take appropriate action against all those who are violating the regulations.

    TV18 said that the channel is being placed in other genres to allow it to “illegally garner higher BARC ratings and increase viewership”. It further stated that genres where Republic Bharat is being placed either have much better viewership and ratings when compared with the Hindi news genre or ensure that the channel catches the viewer’s attention and gets sampled in non-Hindi news genre.

    “As such, by placing Republic Bharat in non-Hindi news genres, an unfair and undue advantage is being given to ‘Republic Bharat’ when compared with its competing channels that continue to be listed in correct / Hindi news genre,” TV18 said in its complaint to the TRAI.

    “In view of above, we humbly request Hon. Authority to kindly take cognizance of this complaint and investigate into the matter rather, in terms of applicable laws, take stem action against all those who may be / have been involved in listing of Republic Bharat outside its genre so as to deprecate such malpractices in future,” TV18 said in the letter to TRAI.

    In May 2017, sister channel Republic TV was also accused of being carried in multiple genres (http://www.indiantelevision.com/television/tv-channels/news-broadcasting/republic-tv-trai-nba-and-the-case-of-multiple-lcns-170517) . TRAI took note of this and called out DPOs for not heeding cable TV guidelines. Apparently, several channels resort to this tactic to gain extra viewership, especially those in the news genre.