Trai’s broadcast revolution will not be televised

Trai wanted to protect TV viewers from high DTH and cable TV bills. What it did instead was empower big broadcasters and OTT players

Trai’s new tariff regime for the cable and broadcasting sector has proven disastrous

Broadcasters and distributors have gamed the system, offering heavily discounted channel packs that detract from Trai’s aim of promoting a la carte channel purchases

One operator made 4,000 packs, even though the number of channels is approximately 900

And even as the subscriber has suffered, so have smaller players—both broadcaster and distributor. The big winners, meanwhile, are Jio and Airtel

Over the last few years, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has been on a crusade. This crusade was meant to shield the TV-watching consumer from the cloak and dagger tactics of the broadcast and cable services industry.

The problem, as the regulator saw it, was simple—broadcasters and distribution operators transmit hundreds of television channels to subscribers. Despite viewers only watching a few select channels—say, sport or news—they have little choice but to subscribe to and, therefore, pay for the entire gamut.

AUTHOR

Pratap Vikram Singh

Pratap is based out of Delhi and covers policy and myriad intersections with the other sectors, most notably technology. He has worked with Governance Now for seven years, reporting on technology, telecom policy, and the social sector.

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AUTHOR

Pranav Balakrishnan

Pranav is one among the fresh graduates who joined from ACJ's Bloomberg programme. Pranav writes about mobility and electric vehicles. He also has keen interest in consumer electronics and telecom.

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