Tdsat hearing: MSOs against basic service tier conditions in Trai tariff order

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is said to have come out with a “confusing and faulty” Tariff Order, said an MSO counsel to the Tdsat while arguing at the TDSAT hearing. The TDSAT hearing started to take up the matter of revenue share between MSO and LCOs and also about the basic service tier conditions in the Trai tariff order. The Trai order had stipulated that the subscribers would get a basic service tier (BST) of 100 free-to-air (FTA) channels for the price of Rs 100. The order also says that in place of the basic service tier provided by the MSO, the subscriber would also be able to choose any combination of free to air channels up to 100 channels.

Such an order negates the very meaning of the basic service tier itself, said the counsel for MSO Delhi Distribution Company Navin Chawla. He further pointed out the order also asks the MSO to include five channels of each category news and current affairs, infotainment, sports, kids, music, lifestyle, movies and general entertainment in Hindi, English and regional language channels as well. Going by this order, he argued, the number of channels would easily go above the stipulated number of 100. He also suggested there was no study conducted to even find out whether the viewers wanted those 100 channels or not.

There was a similar order in the year 2007 as well which was challenged by MSO Alliance and others. It was argued even at that time the order failed to specify tariffs. At that time, it only gave a ceiling and slabs and that the Trai needed to conduct the exercise again.

He also said that any formula for revenue sharing couldn’t be specified if all the beneficiaries were not named. In this case, the broadcaster was not named, and only MSO and LCOs had been named. Further, there was no systematic revenue figure given either, he argued.

He said Section 11(2) of the Trai Act 1997 stated: "The Authority may, from time to time, by order, notify in the Official Gazette the rates at which the telecommunication services within India and outside India shall be provided under this Act including the rates at which messages shall be transmitted to any country outside India".

The counsel said the digital addressable system required a new Tariff formula, but the regulator Trai merely amended the Tariff Order of 2010. The Section 11(2) of the Trai Act 1997 was very clear about the requirement for the authority to lay down the final tariff the consumer would have to pay, but this was overlooked as the authorities only did some patchwork and simply amended the Tariff order of 2010.

Source :http://cablequest.org/news/cable-news/item/299-tdsat-hearing-msos-against-basic-service-tier-conditions-in-trai-tariff-order.html
Source: http://cablequest.org/news/cable-news/item/299-tdsat-hearing-msos-against-basic-service-tier-conditions-in-trai-tariff-order.html