DTH cos can pick channels: Trai

Consumers opting for Direct-to-Home (DTH) services will no longer have to wait indefinitely for their favourite television channels just because broadcasters and DTH operators cannot agree on the price.

With three new DTH companies set to offer DTH services, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has set new ground rules under which a DTH company will have to get into a commercial agreement within 45 days of it seeking a channel.

These regulations will come into effect from December 1. In its Reference Interconnect Offer (RIO), Trai has mandated that all broadcasters will have to publish details of rates of channels on a la carte basis (individual channels) and the rates of bouquets offered to the DTH companies.

The RIO will also mention the details of discounts, payment terms, tenure of agreement and termination of agreements. The move would help in creating transparency in pricing between broadcasters and competing DTH operators.

Both Dish TV and Tata Sky, the current DTH service providers, have fought long legal battles to obtain popular entertainment channels like Zee TV and Star TV bouquet.

The regulator referred to these cases while formulating the current DTH interconnect regulations, also called the Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable Services) Interconnection Regulation, 2007.

"The Reference Interconnect Offer is only a methodology for arriving at interconnection agreements and the service providers and broadcasters can also enter into an interconnection agreement on mutually agreed terms and conditions," Trai said in a statement.

Under the new regulations, however, Trai has also kept the mandate of intervening in the commercial agreements between the broadcasters and DTH operators, if it was called upon.

Also, as per the new regulations, no broadcaster or DTH operator will disconnect television channels without prior notice.

As per the provision of the new regulation, DTH companies will have the right to bundle a set of channels out of a bouquet and offer it to their subscribers.