New Delhi: TheTelecom Regulatory Authority of India on Friday gave time till January 31 forconsumers to select channels of their choice under the new framework forbroadcasting and cable services and said all existing packs of subscribers willcontinue uninterrupted till then. The TRAI, in March, 2017, had notified thenew regulatory framework for Broadcasting and Cable services and re-notified iton July 3, 2018, prescribing the implementation schedule. According to theimplementation schedule, all the service providers were required to completethe preparation for migration to new framework by December 28, 2018, as the newframework will come into force the next day.
Inorder to facilitate all service providers to migrate their subscribers from oldto new framework without causing inconvenience, TRAI, after consultations withbroadcasters, DTH operators, and MSOs (multi-system operators), has given themmore time to seek options from subscribers for smooth and interruption-freemigrations. “All existing packs/plans/bouquets to the subscribers willcontinue uninterrupted till January 31, 2019. No service provider to disconnectany signal or feed to any MSO/LCO (local cable operator)/subscriber tillJanuary 2019,” TRAI said in a statement.
Distributionplatform operators (DPOs) will devise their own mechanism to reach out to allthe subscribers and seek options from subscribers, it said. DPOs need tomigrate all the subscribers to new framework with effect from February 1, 2019,it said. In order to have a smoothimplementation of the new regulatory framework that will come into effectSaturday, TRAI held a series of meetings and consultations with all thestakeholders including Consumers Advocacy Groups (CAG) during last 4-6 weeks, thestatement said.
Itwas noted during those discussions that to make the consumers aware about thenew framework and the process of seeking fresh choice of TV channels from about150 million subscribers would require some time and resources of the serviceproviders. “Subsequently, the Authority (TRAI) also held meetings onDecember 19 and December 27 with various service providers of the broadcastingand cable services sector. The preparedness for migration of all subscribersfrom old to new framework was also assessed,” TRAI said.
TheTelecom regulator said the issue of smooth migration from the old to newregulatory framework was specifically discussed and it emerged that, by andlarge, most stakeholders are ready for implementation of the new regulatoryframework. TRAI said DPOs shall declare the Distributor Retail Price (DRP) andNetwork Capacity Fee (NCF) by December 29. The government had said on Thursdaythat the new regulatory framework for broadcasting and cable services willprovide “freedom of choice” and give consumers “directcontrol” on their monthly bill for television services.
