A regulatory battle is brewing between rivals Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio over how the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) should govern free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) platforms, with both sides taking sharply divergent positions on whether app-based television services should be regulated like traditional broadcasting networks or continue under the OTT framework.
At the centre of the dispute is whether FAST services, which stream scheduled television channels over apps, websites and connected televisions, should be treated as distribution platforms similar to cable and DTH operators or classified as Internet-based application layer services.
In one of the most detailed submissions before Trai, JioStar has said that FAST and app-based linear television distribution (ALTD) services operate at the application layer of the Internet and cannot be equated with telecom infrastructure merely because they distribute content online.
“Adopting an interpretation whereby every Internet-based dissemination of audio-visual material constitutes a telecommunication service would lead to manifestly excessive and constitutionally problematic consequences,” JioStar said.
The company has argued that such an interpretation could potentially pull OTT streaming platforms, gaming services, cloud applications, social media intermediaries and digital publishers into a telecom licensing framework simply because content is transmitted over Internet networks.
However, Airtel-backed DTH operator Bharti Telemedia has maintained that the existing framework has created a regulatory imbalance where the same linear television content is being distributed through licensed DTH networks and unregulated Internet platforms under entirely different compliance structures.
“The market reality has converged, the regulation has not,” the company said.
Decline in DTH Subscribers
Bharti Telemedia cited Trai data to show that DTH subscribers declined from 66.62 million in December 2022 to 50.99 million in December 2025 even as connected TV adoption and FAST consumption expanded rapidly.
The Airtel group company has proposed that all ALTD providers should be brought under a formal authorisation regime and classified as distribution platform operators. It has also sought parity rules under which channels offered free on FAST platforms should not simultaneously be sold as pay channels on DTH and cable networks.
The company has further argued that licensed distribution operators continue to remain subject to tariff regulation, carriage obligations and licensing requirements while FAST platforms distribute similar content without equivalent oversight.
Jio Platforms, in a separate submission, contended that channel-like presentation of content does not automatically convert OTT services into television broadcasting. It said FAST platforms remain part of the OTT ecosystem because users access them over open Internet networks using independent broadband subscriptions unlike cable and DTH services where carriage and content are bundled together.
Bharti Telemedia also flagged a shift in advertising economics in favour of Internet platforms. According to the company, DTH operators receive no share of advertising revenues generated on television channels, while FAST platforms increasingly monetise the same content through targeted digital advertising and revenue-sharing arrangements with broadcasters.
Industry body Internet and Mobile Association of India also opposed telecom-style regulation for FAST services, pointing out that application-layer Internet services fall outside Trai’s statutory jurisdiction and are already governed under existing legal frameworks.
Trai’s eventual decision is expected to determine how the next phase of television distribution is regulated as the lines between traditional broadcasting and Internet streaming continue to blur.