Putting a pause on the long-drawn debate over provisioning of IPTV services, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Thursday proposed that both telecom service providers and cable operators can provide the service under the same laws.
The regulator, in a position paper to address grey areas in IPTV provisioning, said, ?Both telecom service providers having license to provide triple play services under Telegraph Act and cable operators registered under Cable TV Network (Regulation) Act 1995 can provide IPTV service without requiring any further license or registration.?
Trai has observed that the content should be regulated under up-linking/down-linking guidelines issued by the information and broadcasting ministry. ?The down linking guidelines have to be suitably modified to permit broadcasters/content providers to provide their content to IP TV service providers also,? it said.
The responsibility to ensure that content is in accordance with laws ?shall be that of the broadcaster and telecom licensee will not be held responsible?, it added.
Further, violation of licence terms by the broadcaster, telecom or cable operators should be dealt with by respective agencies responsible for administering laws. Lack of clarity on content control and foreign direct investment norms in this new broadcasting platform has led to a tussle between telcos and broadcasters. While broadcasters are governed by the Cable Television Network Regulation Act, 1995 for the purpose of content control, telecom operators do not come under such laws.