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Trai tariff order at the behest of broadcasters, Delhi Mso tells Tdsat
New Delhi: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had drafted the tariff order on revenue sharing at the behest of broadcasters and, hence, the revenue-sharing formula appears to have benefited them the most.
There was a tacit admission in Para 27 of the Explanatory Memorandum of the Tariff Order issued on 30 April this year that the revenue sharing had been fixed at the behest of broadcasters, said counsel for multi system operator (MSO) Delhi Distribution Company Navin Chawla in his arguments challenging the tariff order in the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (Tdsat).
The tariff order was issued ahead of the transition to digital distribution in the four metros, which has been postponed to 1 November 2012.
Continuing his arguments on Thursday, Chawla said a broadcaster could start a channel irrespective of whether there was a demand for it or not, but an MSO would have to place it as part of the 500 mandated television channels. He said the regulations were clear that if a channel had a viewership of less than 5 per cent of the subscribers, then it could be taken off the bouquet for up to one year but this meant that it would still have to be received from the broadcaster.
The counsel said every MSO would have to create infrastructure for carrying 500 channels even if the demand was for much less, which benefits the broadcasters.
“A broadcaster is free to set up a channel, but I (MSO) cannot be forced to provide a platform for it even if there is no demand,‘ Chawla said.
Section 11A of the regulations says there is no need for a placement fee to be charged in view of the electronic programme guide (EPG), but this favoured the broadcasters since Trai had at the same time mandated that the channels had to be placed genre-wise in the EPG.
Thus, Chawla said, Trai was creating a market for broadcasters through the MSOs.
Referring to the carriage fee, Trai had said this would not be chargeable if an MSO approached a broadcaster. But it had also said that even where carriage fee was payable, it would only be to cover the cost of transmission and this amounted negating the concept of carriage fee.
The tariff was clear that the MSO would have to pay the broadcaster from his share of 65 per cent in the case of a pay channel bouquet of Rs 150 but no study had been undertaken to determine the expenditure that an MSO would have to incur to set up the required infrastructure.
Chawla pointed out that under the conditional access system (CAS), the LCOs could charge Rs 82 for 30 channels. But Trai had failed to give any reasoning for the new concept of the basic service tier of Rs 100 for 100 free to air channels. He said Trai had admitted that the CAS formula of 2006 had worked well and there had been minimal litigation.
When Chawla sought to reiterate that there had been no application of mind or study, Trai Counsel Meet Malhotra intervened to say that there had been an internal study and he would refer to that in his response to the counsel for the petitioners.
Chawla said the very purpose of an Explanatory Memorandum was to give reasoning, but said this had not been done.
He pointed out that the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act as amended in December last year said that the local cable operators would fix the rates, but Trai had said that it would do so.
He said that there was also contradiction within the Act about who will do the packaging of the channels: the LCOs or the MSOs.
Concluding his arguments, Chawla said the Tariff Order had failed to lay down the tariff for the consumer but only given a revenue sharing formula and a ceiling, and no basis had been shown for fixing of either the revenue sharing in the BST of Rs 100 or the bouquet of Rs 150.
He said the differences that had already been brought before Tdsat after the 2010 Tariff Order and had been struck down (though they were pending in appeal in the Supreme Court) had been repeated despite the fact that a new system was being introduced.
“If DAS and direct-to-home were similar as contended by Trai, then why no BST had been fixed for DTH and no rationale had been given for letting DTH take placement fee and carriage fee?,” he argued.
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Inshorts Group chief Deepit Purkayastha joins IAB video council for Southeast Asia and India
The co-founder and chief executive of the short-form content platform has been inducted into the IAB SEA+India Video Council, giving India a stronger voice in shaping digital video frameworks
NOIDA: India has long been the world’s most chaotic, multilingual and mobile-first digital market. Now, one of its most prominent short-video executives is getting a seat at the table where the rules are written.
Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts Group, has been selected as a member of the IAB SEA+India Video Council for 2026. Run by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the council brings together senior leaders from Southeast Asia and India to shape standards, best practices and measurement frameworks for the fast-evolving video and digital advertising ecosystem.
The timing is pointed. According to the IAMAI-Kantar Internet in India Report 2025, over 588 million Indians are now consuming short-video content, with growth increasingly driven by rural and non-metro audiences. India’s active internet user base has crossed 950 million, with 57 per cent of users now coming from rural markets. Yet the frameworks that govern how video consumption is measured and monetised were largely designed for single-language, Western markets and have struggled to keep pace with the scale, diversity and complexity of India’s digital landscape.
Purkayastha is no stranger to these debates. He already serves on the AI Council at Marketing and Media Alliance India and as co-chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee at the Internet and Mobile Association of India. His induction into the IAB SEA+India Video Council extends that influence into the global video standards arena.
Inshorts Group sits squarely at the intersection of these forces. Its flagship product, Inshorts, India’s highest-rated short news app, reaches 12 million active users with 60-word news summaries. Its sister platform, Public App, reaches 80 million monthly active users across more than 700 districts and 12 languages, serving communities that most global platforms barely register.
Purkayastha said the opportunity was about building something more representative. “India today sits at the centre of the global video ecosystem, but the frameworks that define how value is created and measured have not always kept pace with the realities of our market,” he said. “Being part of the IAB SEA+India Video Council is an opportunity to contribute to a more representative and future-ready approach, one that accounts for diversity in language, context, and user intent.”
As a council member, Purkayastha will contribute to shaping regional standards across video advertising, measurement and platform governance, with a focus on frameworks that are native to India’s multilingual, mobile-first ecosystem rather than imported from global benchmarks designed elsewhere.
For years, India has been content to play by rules written for other markets. Purkayastha’s induction is a signal that it is done waiting to be consulted and ready to start writing them.
