News Broadcasting
Trai issues regulations on quality of cable TV service
NEW DELHI: Cable TV consumers are in for a pleasant surprise as cable operators will now be put under stringent monitoring relating to quality of service.
India’s broadcast regulator today issued detailed regulations prescribing standards of quality of service to be observed by the cable operators and multi system operators in CAS notified areas of Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi and Chennai.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said the regulations would come into effect from 1 October, 2006.
The regulations have been drawn keeping in view the facts that the industry would be subject to prescription of quality of service standards for the first time and, therefore, would need time to adjust on various quality of service aspects.
The issues addressed in the regulations broadly cover the following areas:
(i) Connection, disconnection, transfer and shifting of cable services
(ii) Complaint handling and redressal in respect of cable services
(iii) Billing Procedure and billing related complaints
(iv) Set-top box related issues and complaints
(v) Positioning of channels / taking the channel off air
A snapshot of the major features of these regulations categorized under the above-mentioned broad areas are indicated below:
Application for connection/disconnection/transfer/shifting
* Application for pay channel or request for basic service tier to be responded within five working days.
* Cable Service connection/reconnection to be provided within 2 working days on completion of all formalities by the subscribers.
Complaint handling and redressal
*Multi System Operator/Cable Operator to maintain customer service center/help desk center for 24 hours, 7 days a week including facility for automatic recording of complaints.
*All complaints received in the day to be attended/responded within eight hours.
Billing related issues
* Billing to be done normally on monthly basis and entries to be itemized.
*Subscribers required to ensure prompt payment of bills. Deterrents to discourage delayed payments
*Redressal of complaints on billing within 7 days from the date of notice.
Set Top Box (STB) related issues
* MSO/Cable Operator to repair or replace within 24 hours of receipt of complaint of malfunctioning of set top box and refund of security deposit within seven days of return of set top box.
*Rebate for delay in activation/reactivation of set top box beyond two working days @ Rs 15 per day for the first 5 days and @ Rs 10 per day for the subsequent period
Positioning of channels/Taking the channel off air
*No channel to be taken off the air, except for circumstances beyond the control of the operator, without prior notice of three weeks.
The High Court of Delhi on 20 July 2006 had directed implementation of CAS in the three metros of Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi by 31 December 2006.
One of the areas identified in the implementation of CAS was prescription of quality of service standards by Trai, which has been now done after consultations with the industry stakeholders.
A full text of the regulation along with the explanatory memorandum is available on Trai’s website, www.trai.gov.in.
News Broadcasting
News TV viewership jumps 33 per cent as West Asia war draws audiences
BARC Week 8 data shows news share rising to 8 per cent despite T20 World Cup
NEW DELHI:Â Even as individual television news channel ratings remain under a temporary pause, the genre itself is seeing a clear surge in audience attention.
According to the latest data from Broadcast Audience Research Council India, television news recorded a 33 per cent jump in genre share in Week 8 of 2026, covering February 28 to March 6.
The news genre accounted for 8 per cent of total television viewership during the week, up from 6 per cent the previous week. The spike in attention coincided with escalating geopolitical tensions involving the United States, Israel and Iran, which have kept global headlines firmly fixed on West Asia.
The rise is notable because it came at a time when cricket was dominating television screens. The high-stakes stages of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, including the Super 8 fixtures and semi-finals, were being broadcast during the same period.
Despite the cricket frenzy, viewers appeared to be toggling between sport and global affairs, boosting the overall share of news programming.
The surge in genre share comes even as the government has enforced a one-month pause on publishing ratings for individual news channels. The move followed regulatory scrutiny of the television ratings ecosystem.
While channel-level rankings remain temporarily out of sight, the genre-level data suggests that when global tensions escalate, audiences continue to turn to television news for real-time updates.
