Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India issued Tariff Order for TV Channels

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) in its much-awaited tariff order issued on 30 April 2012, ordained the TV channels to carry a minimum of 100 free-to-air channels on their networks.

As per the TRAI order, the basic service tier (BST) will comprise at least five channels of news and current affairs, infotainment, sports, kids, music, lifestyle, movies and general entertainment in Hindi, English and regional language of the concerned region.

While multi-system operators (MSO) have to offer the BST, it is not mandatory to subscribe to it. The subscriber is free to subscribe to his own package of a maximum of 100 FTA channels, but in either case, the MSO can’t charge the subscriber more than 100 rupees a month.

Besides having to carry a minimum of 500 channels from next year, Trai has mandated that every MSO will have a minimum capacity to carry 200 channels from1 July, 2012.

The Trai's order came following the I&B ministry's Cable Television Networks Rules 2012 notification issued on 29 April 2012. Broadcasters shall not provide their channels to MSOs who have channel carrying capacity of less than 200 channels immediately and less than 500 channels from 2013.

Trai also gave the responsibility of fixing Carriage Fee to the MSO in a uniform and transparent manner. MSOs can fix the retail tariff, and package and price offerings. But, the sum of the a-la-carte rates of channels — part of a bouquet — shall not exceed 1.5 times the rate of the bouquet.