Last month, the All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF) petitioned the Kerala HC for a stay against the implementation of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (TRAI) tariff amendment - NTO 3.0. The High Court pushed the hearing and now the matter will be heard on February 22, 2023.
As earlier reported by exchange4media, AIDCF had requested HC to issue directions to TRAI to examine and fix the maximum retail price for television channels genre-wise and with a maximum cap on the price of any channel in order to ensure the orderly growth of the digital cable television sector as mandated by the TRAI Act, 1997.
The federation had told the court that TRAI has failed to consider and address the foremost challenge faced by the entire broadcasting and cable services industry and that there is a trend of constant decline in the subscriber base for MSOs and DTH operators.
In the last hearing, the court indicated that it was not inclined to pass any interim order staying the amendment and also declined to pass any order after hearing detailed arguments, listing the hearing for February 8.
Early this month, Siddharth Jain, Secretary General, of the Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation (IBDF), said that more than 80% of operators across the country have already signed up with broadcasters under the new pricing regime.
“This is an extremely encouraging start under the NTO 3.0 regime, and we expect others to also sign up over the next few days,” said Jain.