After upsetting most telecom operators over its recommendations on 2G spectrum, Trai may also face the heat from broadcasters, cable operators and DTH companies. The recent exercise by Trai to revise the tariffs for cable channels has gone waste, apparently. The regulator may not have found workable answers to questions like what should be the minimum monthly bill of the consumers watching cable TV, what should be the division of revenue between the broadcasters, DTH operators and local cable operators, or how the unaccounted annual subscription revenue worth over Rs 16,000 crore from 90 million cable homes gets reflected in the accounts of stakeholders.

If Trai reduces the content cost on the DTH platform, the cable industry will also respond at the risk of destabilising the entire value chain of the business?from broadcasters to distributors of content, because input costs have only gone north while consumers demand lower outgo. This means the mess in the existing broadcast and cable business will continue for some more time or even years.

Trai has gone about a tariff-revision exercise for the cable and broadcasting sector in a meticulous manner as it has to make submissions in the Supreme Court. It appointed a private consultant, got surveys done on cable pricing and engaged stakeholders in long meetings. But if there are no clear answers and pessimism has crept into the minds of most stakeholders, then it may be the right time to pose a different set of questions. Was there something lacking in the exercise or did Trai miscalculate the gravity of the issues of tariff in the industry? Or is there a need for having a specialist, full-time regulatory body for the cable and broadcasting sector?

The nodal I&B ministry has kickstarted the process of establishing a dedicated sector regulator that can put recommendations into actions or decide issues at a fast pace. Meanwhile, the consumer will continue to suffer by shelling out huge and uneven cable bills for watching outdated, analogue cable TV even as it fights a losing battle with the new technologies?digital cable and DTH. Can this be the beginning of the end of Trai?s role when it comes to the cable and broadcast sector?

?ashish.sinha@expressindia.com