The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released amended broadcasting and cable services interconnection regulations to establish a fully compliant trust-based audit regime.
As per the amended regulations, the distributor of Pay TV broadcasting services will keep a minimum gap of six months and a maximum time gap of 18 months between the two annual audits.
Further, the minimum transactional capacity required for CAS and SMS systems has been revised to 5 per cent instead of the earlier 10 per cent.
TRAI further mentioned, “Since the implementation of the new framework, all distributors are deploying STBs that are compliant with Covert and Overt fingerprinting. The Authority has taken a pragmatic view on this aspects owing to already existing field deployments and revised the extant provisions in schedule III of the Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable) Services Interconnection (Addressable Systems) (Amendment) Regulations 2017.”
The regulations have been revised on the basis of the comments received on the Draft Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable) Services Interconnection (Addressable Systems) (Amendment) Regulations, 2019 issued on 27 August, 2019.
“During the consultation undertaken to prepare the audit manual, certain comments and observations reflect some issues in the Schedule III of the Interconnection Regulations 2017. Accordingly, Draft Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable) Services Interconnection (Addressable Systems) (Amendment) Regulations, 2019 was issued on 27 August, 2019,” TRAI said in a statement.
The comments received on these draft regulations were posted on TRAI's website. Subsequently, an open house discussion was held on September 26, 2019 in Delhi. Based on the comments received and analysis of the developments in the market the regulations have been revised.
“Vide these regulations, the Authority has amended Schedule III of the Interconnection Regulations 2017, mainly on the following:- 1. Scheduling and Scope of Audit, 2. Transactional capacity of Conditional Access System (CAS) and Subscriber Management System (SMS) system, 3. Support for overt and covert fingerprinting in set-top-boxes, and 4. Watermarking network logo for all pay channels.”