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TRAI looks on digitization of cable TV broadcasting
By siliconindia
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Thursday, 17 July 2008, 00:12 IST |
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New Delhi: The telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is looking to improve the quality of the cable television broadcasting in India. According to its latest recommendations cable TV operators in the country will have to digitize their services and it also emphasizes on new generation network and quality of service and accountability. TRAI brings out some measures for 70,000 cable operators in the country in the wake of competition from alternatives such as Direct-to -Home of Sky and Internet protocol television.
TRAI is also planning to change the present registration system, license system will be introduced. According to new system basic service area has defined as the revenue district, and local cable operators(LCO) can apply for district and state level licenses and the multi service operator can obtain district, state and country wide licenses. Licensing authority for LCOs will be the senior superintendent of post offices at the district level and chief post master general for state-level licenses. The authority for granting license to MSOs will be the ministry of information and broadcasting or a designated agency under it. A license is valid for five years and entry fee ranging from Rs10, 000 to Rs25 lakh has been prescribed for various players depending on the service area.
The existing operators will get five years from the date of notification of the new licensing system and after that no license will be granted. There is a 50 percent reduction in the applicable entry fee for the multi system operators who are starting digital operation. According to the industry, with high volumes the basic analogue to digital conversion would cost Rs 500 per set-top box, while a CAS box would cost around Rs 1,500. Digitization will also increase the number of channels offered.
As the concept of convergent media is developing very fast and the Next generation network is likely to arrive soon, high speed broad band will require to the subscribers. TRAI believes that Cable TV operators can contribute a lot in this direction as it will not only increase broadband penetration but will drastically improve cable TV operators� business model if they upgrade to two-way digital cable network.
According to the proposal the MSO will also held responsible for the content on the local channels that it carries and there is also provision to consider the grievances of the consumers.
