TRAI extends deadline on TV tariffs again. Here’s why

On June 1, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, or TRAI, extended the deadline for the implementation of the New Regulatory Framework 2020. The deadline, which ended on the day of the extension, has been shifted to August 31 for television broadcasters, and to September 30 for cable operators.

One of the directives of the 2020 regulations was that broadcasters and cable operators had to reveal the monthly cost of TV channels – individually and in bouquets – to TRAI.

In the TV market, a consumer pays a subscription fee for a pay-to-watch channel. Part of this fee goes to the cable operator and another part to the TV channel. The demand for transparency of price rates was to scrutinise how operators and broadcasters set them.

TRAI framed its regulations in the language of “consumer protection”, or to protect viewers from inflated costs of availing multiple TV channels. Additionally, it imposed a tariff on the maximum retail prices, or MRPs, of individual TV channels – Rs 12. This is the main point of contention between the broadcasters and the regulator.

“There are still a few sticky points with regard to the new tariffs,” an industry insider told Newslaundry. “They are yet to be sorted out.”

Unhappy with the price ceiling, broadcasters had taken TRAI to court In January 2020, calling the regulations “arbitrary”, “illusory” and with “no sound basis”. They argued that the cap cut down on their subscription revenues at a time when they needed to recover from pandemic-induced losses.

But in February this year, the cases were withdrawn and TRAI invited broadcasters and cable operators for several formal and informal negotiations. The meetings to find a common ground on tariffs have been on since. They are evidently taking their own sweet time, since the June 1 deadline was itself an extension from April 1, 2022.