In what would be a big set back to the initiatives of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to usher in a new interconnection regime for the analogue cable industry that reaches 80 million subscribers, no stakeholders have responded to its latest proposal. Also, Trai has come under fire from the cable industry who have questioned the validity of proposing a complete shift in their commercial contracts with the broadcasters terming it anti-digitalisation.
The Trai proposal speaks about a mutually agreed fixed monthly fees to form the basis of all future commercial agreements between the cable distributors and the broadcasters. Operators and broadcasters have opposed the move as reported by FE earlier citing infringement on their right to do business. At present, all such contracts are based on negotiated subscriber bases on which the multi service operators (MSOs) and cable operators pay the broadcasters.
??There is no logic to the Trai paper. It will push the industry into a single-operator per region kind of scenario which will adversely impact the revenue stream of all stakeholders. I will ask Trai to take back this proposal,?? Roop Sharma, president of Cable Operators Federation, the apex body of leading cable operators said.
A senior broadcaster said the Trai?s move is anti-digitalisation and against several court judgments in such matters.
Sensing the combative mood of most stakeholders, Trai has called an urgent meeting on Wednesday to discuss the matter even before comments have been sent. As per practice, the Trai meets stakeholders in an open-house discussions after it receives the comments and counter-comments. But sensing the gravity, it has moved away from this tradition this time, sources said.
According to officials, Trai will once again extend the last date of submission of comments after the meeting. Originally, stakeholders had to submit their comments by mid-January but the date was extended to January 31 as none filed their response.
As reported by FE earlier, Trai suggested a shift from a negotiated subscriber base-led commercial pacts to a monthly fixed fee-based from 2011 onwards. Also, it said all such pacts should follow in the fiscal year as opposed to the calender year or any 12 months in between.