TRAI Moved SC for Fixing Caps in non-CAS Areas

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) moved the Supreme Court seeking its nod to fix a cap of Rs 250 per month in non-Conditional Access System (non-CAS ) areas in the country.
Trai had earlier filed its draft regulation informing the court that the regulator had proposed to cap the monthly tariff charges to Rs 250 in non CAS area. However various broadcasters including Sony Group, Star India, Zee Turner and multi-system operators (MSOs) had opposed TRAI’s move.

Trai had proposed to divide cable services into three pricing slabs:

•    The first one was to have a monthly charge of Rs 100 for a minimum of 30 free-to-air (FTA) channels, including the mandatory Doordarshan channels.
•    As per the second basic package (which includes Doordarshan channels) that would include up to 20 pay channels, the monthly bill will be fixed at Rs 200.
•    For the basic package with more than 20 pay channels, the subscribers will be expected to pay Rs 250 per month. Earlier, there were no limits on the number of FTA channels, but the monthly charge was fixed at Rs 83, while a maximum of Rs 260 was fixed for a basic package plus pay channels. As per industry estimates, there are at present 300 FTAs and 125 pay channels in the country.