Private channels on Prasar Bharati OTT a breach of guidelines?
Industry experts say that by permitting private channels to stream on Prasar Bharati’s OTT platform, the pubcaster is breaching guidelines for uplinking and downlinking of satellite TV channels
A week after Prasar Bharati invited applications for onboarding linear satellite TV channels for streaming on its OTT platform for one year, industry observers have now alleged that this move violates established government guidelines.
According to the Guidelines for Uplinking and Downlinking of Satellite Television Channels in India, 2022, private channels can share their signal reception decoders exclusively with Cable TV, IPTV, DTH, and HITS platforms. These guidelines are designed to regulate the distribution of television signals and ensure compliance with established broadcasting norms.
Industry experts argue that by permitting private channels to stream on Prasar Bharati’s OTT platform, the organization is breaching these specific regulations.
They contend that this new policy undermines the regulatory framework intended to control and monitor the distribution channels of satellite television signals. This situation not only raises questions about regulatory adherence but also prompts concerns about the broader implications for market fairness and the consistency of policy enforcement in the media sector.
“Prasar Bharati has invited broadcasters on its OTT platform, which violates the government’s downlinking guidelines. As of now, no linear channel is available on OTT platforms. They are server-based live feeds but not the satellite channels,” said an industry expert, who did not wish to be named.
A senior official from the cable industry remarked that such moves are intended to undermine and potentially drive the cable and DTH industries out of business.
“How can Prasar Bharati require a stakeholder such as a broadcaster to join its OTT platform on a revenue-sharing basis? This approach is clearly at odds with its guidelines, which explicitly prohibit such actions. Such a move not only conflicts with established regulations but also threatens to undermine and potentially dismantle the cable and DTH industries,” he said.
According to Rohit Jain, Managing Partner, Singhania & Co, TV channels are granted permission, subject to the condition that they will provide signal reception decoders only to cable operators, DTH operators, IPTV operators or to HITS operators.
“There appears to be ambiguity around sharing the content of TV channels on OTT platforms. Clause 11.2.3 of the Prasar Bharati OTT platform content sourcing guidelines stipulates the procedure for onboarding private TV channels on the OTT platform.
“Considering that the private TV channel licence permits sharing of signal reception decoders only with cable TV, DTH, IPTV and HITS operators, if the Government permits the same on Prasar Bharati OTT platform, then it’ll imply that either the signal decoder restriction stipulated in the licence does not apply qua OTT platforms or that the license includes OTT platform in addition to other operators,” Jain told e4m.
On August 5, Prasar Bharati invited applications for on-boarding private linear satellite TV channels for streaming on Prasar Bharati’s OTT platform for a period of one year. The last date to submit the applications was August 12.
Prasar Bharati proposed this arrangement with a revenue-sharing basis which will be in the ratio of 65:35 of the net revenue generated from the channel by inserting advertisements (65% to channels and 35% to Prasar Bharati).
According to the Guidelines for Uplinking and Downlinking of Satellite Television Channels in India, 2022, issued in November 2022, the provision under 11.3(f), grant of permission for downlinking shall be given to channel if “it shall provide satellite TV channel signal reception decoders to MSOs/Cable Operators registered under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 or to a DTH Operator registered under DTH guidelines issued by government of India or to an Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) Service Provider duly permitted under the existing Telecom License or authorised by Department of Telecommunications or to a HITS operator duly permitted under the policy guidelines for HITS operators issued by the ministry.
Prasar Bharati also released the content sourcing policy, as per which it can remove any content on its new OTT platform if it fails to generate net positive revenue continuously for 180 days.
According to the Content Sourcing Policy for the OTT platform, the Content Sourcing Division at Doordarshan Directorate (HQ) and the Content Sourcing Divisions at the Zonal Levels (for regional channels) will be the primary entities responsible for sourcing content across all Prasar Bharati platforms.
