In a suo moto recommendation, telecom & broadcast regulator Trai on Tuesday said that the country?s highly fragmented cable TV industry should migrate to a licensing regime from the existing registration system, in view of the growing convergence and to facilitate growth of the sector.
The recommendations, which have been forwarded to the I&B ministry, has sought a separate licensing framework for local cable operators (LCOs) and multi-system operators (MSOs).
Trai has recommended an entry fee of Rs 10,000 for LCOs operating at the district level and Rs 1 lakh at the state level, both for a period of five years. At present, registration for a cable TV operator is valid for only one year, with a provision for annual renewal.
The current duration of a year was considered grossly inadequate for long-term investment and business planning by a cable TV operator, according to the regulator. The existing registration fee for cable TV operators is Rs 500, renewable at the same amount.
Trai has pegged the entry fee for a district-level MSO licence at Rs 1 lakh and set a net worth clause of Rs 5 lakh. The entry fee for a state-level MSO licence has been proposed at Rs 10 lakh and a net worth of Rs 10 lakh. No annual license fee has been envisaged. MSOs aggregate content from different broadcasters and provide it to LCOs.
Trai has recommended an additional administrative cess of 10% of the licence fee to pay for record keeping and data maintenance. The fund would be maintained by post office superintendents responsible for granting district-level licences.
The service area for cable TV licences has also been revised to the revenue district or the geographical boundaries of the state, as the case may be, in accordance with the licence as Trai found lack of clarity on jurisdictional areas.