New tariff plan paints grim prospects for lifestyle, travel, niche channels

Trai Consultation paper released last week seeks to clampdown on bouquets

Lifestyle, travel and niche television broadcasters face an uncertain future with the sector regulator looking to rein in channel bouquets.

In its consultation paper released last week, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) addressed three key points including the bundling of channels under bouquets, rampant discounting within bouquets, and the lack of consumer choice.

Specifically, Trai proposed two measures to tackle the issue. One was to re-introduce a cap on discounts within bouquets and the second was scrutiny of the ceiling price, currently fixed at Rs 19 per channel.

While broadcasters said Trai had adhered to the cap on