TRAI seeks TV industry's views on system requirements for DRM-based IPTV networks

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued a consultation paper on proposed amendments to the interconnection regulation 2017. The regulator has amended the regulation to include system requirements for Digital Rights Management (DRM).

The consultation paper (CP) has been prepared based on the report submitted by the committee constituted by TRAI to study issues related to DRM systems. The TRAI had formed a committee after receiving numerous comments and suggestions from stakeholders on issues related to DRM Systems.

DRM refers to the management of the encryption systems for providing the functionality of conditional access system (CAS) and subscriber management system (SMS) for the Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service providers.

The TRAI has suggested that the IPTV service provider must retransmit linear channels over a closed network to set-top boxes (STBs) located within a subscriber’s premises. It clarified that IPTV must not include any electronic delivery for receipt and viewing via the Internet/OTT. It also stated that the IPTV linear services should not be available on Internet/public networks.

The regulator has also suggested the permissible data mismatch between DRM and SMS. Maximum mismatch based on subscription base must be less than 0.20% for subscriber base up to 100000 subs, less than 0.04% for subscriber base up to 1 million subscribers, and must be less than 0.01% for subscriber base above 10 million subscribers.

Further, the data between the DRM and SMS must be reconciled on a monthly basis. The reconciliation report will have to be stored along with the system data for a minimum of two years or at least two audit cycles, or as per Schedule III whichever is later.

The TRAI suggested that the IPTV operator will have to ensure that the current version of the DRM in use does not have any history of hacking. A written declaration from the DRM vendor will be required to be furnished on an annual basis as compliance of this requirement, it added.

The regulator stated that the IPTV transmission has to be in multicast mode only just like cable TV transmission while adding that unicast mode is not allowed. STBs with recording facilities must have a copy protection system and such recorded content should not be transferrable to any other device.

According to TRAI, the IPTV transmission should not be allowed to configure any content delivery network (CDN) in their system to deliver linear content to STBs. It also stated that IPTV should not be allowed to deliver linear content to any other device except STB which has been whitelisted in DRM.

"IPTV system should not allow recording of the linear channel at headend/network level. It should be allowed to be recorded at STB/DVR level only, without there being any option available to transfer such recorded content to any other device," the TRAI suggested.

Stakeholders can submit comments on the draft regulation by 7th October and counter-comments can be submitted by 21st October.