In a country with high digital penetration and technology aggressively making its way into every corner, there are over 100 million households that do not have access to television.
Observing that so many of the households do not own TV sets, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in its consultation paper on National Broadcast Policy, released on Tuesday, sought suggestions from stakeholders to connect these homes and provide affordable TV sets to them.
According to TRAI, presently there are around 320 million households in India and about 182 million of them have access to television sets (including linear and non-linear TV services).
The remaining 100 million-plus homes have been termed ‘TV Dark’ homes or homes without television.
“From a broader perspective, to understand the potential, considering an average household size to be at 4.4 (as per Census of India 2011) and assuming the current population of India to be at 140 crore, it calculates to around 320 million households in India.
“Now, the industry estimate says that about 182 million households have access to television sets (including linear and non-linear TV services). Therefore, there exists potential of provisioning televisions to more than 100 million ‘TV Dark’ homes in the country,” the regulatory body said while seeking provision for affordable television services in these homes.
India’s broadcasting landscape comprises 326 broadcasters, 887 registered MSOs, 1 HITS operator, and 4 pay DTH operators as of today. Apart from these, there is a free-to-air DTH service named DD Free Dish, owned and operated by the public service broadcaster Prasar Bharati.
“The cable television and distribution sector has been digitized since March 2017 and there is a comprehensive regulatory framework in force for the addressable system since December 2018. Presently there are around 63.52 million total active DTH subscribers, around 62 million cable TV subscribers, 2 million HITS subscribers and around 45 million subscribers of DD Free Dish,” the body said.
It is also estimated that total television screens (including linear and bi-directional) are expected to touch 202 million by 2026 from 182 million in 2023.
TRAI noted that the factors attributable to the unconnected TV households or ‘TV Dark’ homes in India include lower income levels among households that may not be able to afford television sets along with other ongoing expenses.
“Also, remote and rural areas may lack the necessary cable TV broadcasting infrastructure to support households with TV connections,” it said.
“It is to be noted that in remote, rural, hilly and inaccessible areas, the provision of television broadcasting services may be commercially unviable. The costs of reaching these areas are more in relation to commercial return. But the social cost of remaining unserved is high and growing. Therefore, there is a need to explore and suggest strategies and implement policies to connect the unconnected households,” it said.