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Trai firm on broadcasters implementing non-Cas Tariff Order

Indiantelevision.com Team

(17 December 2007 9:00 pm)

NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has told the broadcasters that they would have to comply with the Tariff Order for non-Cas (conditional access system) areas issued on October 4 or face punitive action.

In a last ditch attempt to get the Order recalled or at least get more declaration of subscribers from cable operators, representatives of all the major broadcasters met the sector regulator on Monday, but failed to get any reprieve.

Broadcasters have been asked to come out with their a la carte pricing, according to a Trai source.

The Trai has said that this Order has been upheld in the interim order by the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (Tdsat) as being in public interest and has asked the broadcasters to implement it as an experiment.

At this stage the broadcasters should not try to get the order recalled or changed, Trai has said.

Also present in the meeting was Trai chairperson Nripendra Mishra.

The broadcasters said that they could not see any benefit to the subscribers because in a non-addressable system the Order was impossible to implement. The MSOs (multi-system operators) would also mount carriage fees in such a situation.

Trai, on the other hand said that this is an area of concern, "but under the circumstances this is the best that could be done for the non-addressable areas."

Meanwhile, in a related development, MSOs are wanting to meet the broadcasters with Trai, if possible, and seek out the best possible packages that customers would accept, top MSO sources said.

"We could work out the best of channels from across broadcasters as bouquets that would appeal to the subscribers, or come to some understanding and consensual formula," an MSO executive said, adding, "but they must give us the prices so that we on our part can implement the Order in the non-Cas areas."

The Tariff Order entails broadcasters having to declare their individual channel prices to the MSOs.

Broadcasters were supposed to have declared the prices by 7 December. The Tdsat has already asked them to implement the Order.

The broadcasters now have only two options - either to comply or move the Delhi High Court against the Order.