The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has floated a draft amendment to its broadcasting and cable distribution rules that seeks to tighten audit requirements for distributors of television channels.
Trai said the move is aimed at ensuring greater transparency in subscription reporting, preventing under-declaration of subscriber numbers, and reducing disputes between broadcasters and distributors.
Annual audits
The proposed rules are part of the Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable) Services Interconnection (Addressable Systems) (Seventh Amendment) Regulations, 2025 and are slated to come into effect from April 1, 2026. The authority has invited public comments on the draft by October 6, 2025.
Under the draft, every distributor of TV channels will be required to get its addressable systems such as subscriber management systems (SMS), conditional access systems (CAS), and digital rights management (DRM) platforms audited once every financial year. The audit report must be shared with broadcasters by September 30 each year.
Trai has proposed that the audits be carried out only by Broadcast Engineering Consultants India (BECIL) or other empanelled auditors. Broadcasters will be allowed to depute a representative during the audit process to provide inputs, though their role will remain limited to verification.
As per the draft, distributors will be required to inform broadcasters at least 30 days in advance about the audit schedule and the name of the auditor. Distributors who miss the September 30 deadline for submitting audit reports will remain liable for penalties, with Trai also moving to clearly define timelines in order to minimise disputes.
Transparency push
To ease compliance, distributors with fewer than 30,000 active subscribers at the end of the preceding financial year will have the option to skip mandatory audits. However, broadcasters may still commission audits of such smaller distributors at their own expense.
The draft also introduces a mechanism to address disputes over audit findings. If broadcasters flag discrepancies, they can ask the original auditor to re-examine the report. If concerns remain unresolved, the matter may be escalated to Trai, which can permit a “special audit” at the broadcaster’s cost.
Provisions have also been added for infrastructure sharing arrangements. The draft specifies that each distributor using shared systems must maintain separate instances of SMS or CAS/DRM, ensuring that subscriber data can be reconciled individually. Rules for watermarking of broadcaster and distributor logos on pay channels have also been clarified.