TRAIng to put onus on broadcasters, regulator cites hiked channel prices in NTO notice

At a time when the entire broadcasting industry is trying to recover from the coronavirus impact, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is trying to push an unnecessary diktat by speeding up the implementation of New Tariff Order (NTO) 2.0. Time and again, the regulatory body has been blamed for introducing unessential rules. But does TRAI have a new excuse this time for forcing the implementation of NTO 2.0? The latest notice appears to put the onus on broadcasters.

In its directions, TRAI said, “Non-implementation of the Tariff Amendment Order 2020 and Interconnection Amendment Regulation 2020 is leading to chaos in the sector and jeopardizing the business process which has been harmonized after 2017 regulatory framework, and that delay and uncertainty in the implementation of the regulatory framework 2020 will again bring back non-transparency and discriminatory practices in the sector wherein the industry was full of litigation and there was no choice of channels to consumers.”

This puts the ball in broadcasters' court, making them directly responsible for TRAI pushing them for implementation for NTO 2.0.

On July 24, the regulator directed broadcasters to publish details such as maximum retail price per month of channels and maximum retail price per month of bouquets of channels, the composition of bouquets and amended RIO (Reference Interconnected Offer), among others, on their websites by August 10.

While TRAI’s intention behind the implementation of NTO 2.0 as mentioned by them is to promote orderly growth of the sector and to balance the interests of service providers and to safeguard the interest of the consumers, it's difficult to envisage any growth in the sector in the wake of this new order. Doubts have been expressed on whether the move will at all safeguard any consumer interests.

The blame game for the speeding up of the implementation doesn’t end here though. TRAI said "One major broadcaster has discontinued its low-priced bouquets so that consumers take new higher-priced bouquet, thereby increasing their monthly payout, and that the said broadcaster has announced to discontinue its low-priced bouquet with effect from August 1, 2020 for the subscription.

Similarly, another broadcaster, who had filed RIO containing revised prices and bouquets in Jan 2020, filed on June 8, 2020, another revision of the RIO, not in compliance with Tariff Amendment Order 2020, merely replacing one channel of 25 paise with another channel of the same price and also increased the price of their most popular bouquet from Rs 25 to Rs 28 in an attempt to the change the status quo which continued so far. Many broadcasters are not willing to sign the agreement as per the provisions of tariff amendment order 2020."

In directions issued by TRAI, it has been stated that DPOs have also been brought to the notice of the authority. TRAI said, "Many Broadcasters are not willing to sign the agreement as per the provisions of Tariff Amendment Order 2020 and Interconnection Amendment Regulations 2020, and as the RIOs offered by Broadcasters are not in compliance with the extant regulations and orders, DPOs are not willing to enter into such non- complaint agreement thereby creating a regulatory vacuum in the sector."

TRAI further mentioned, "The authority is in receipt of complaints from some DPOs wherein it has been alleged that some Broadcasters are extending the old agreement with some DPOs and are imposing new terms and conditions including prices to other DPOs and that litigation because of such issues have been filed before TDSAT," mentioned TRAI.

Broadcasters and other stakeholders have challenged various provisions of the new tariff order in various courts in the past. Some broadcasters had moved Bombay High Court stating that the NTO 2.0 order is impugning on price control. The matter is currently sub judice. Later in May, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) members met Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar who assured them that NTO 2.0 will not be implemented anytime soon. But just two months after the assurance, the TRAI now wants to implement it.

In the current situation, when the broadcast industry is already going through a tough time, it seems, TRAI, instead of supporting, is trying to disrupt the TV ecosystem. Let's not forget that NTO 1 implemented in 2019 already pushed some broadcasters to shut down their niche channels. In an attempt to micro-managing the industry, TRAI is only disrupting the system, and in the process, losing out its importance as a regulator.