Telecom and DTH players have renewed their push for sweeping regulatory relief in the broadcasting sector, seeking a rollback of pricing and licensing restrictions that they say have constrained competitiveness and innovation in the sector.
Bharti Telemedia, the DTH arm of Bharti Airtel has maintained a firm stance, particularly on the removal of pricing restrictions such as the rule that prevents bouquet prices from falling below 55% of the sum of individual channel prices. The company earlier wrote to the regulator that such legacy provisions cap discounting and limit competitiveness, and should now be revisited to ensure regulatory parity across traditional and emerging TV distribution platforms
The move coincides with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) recent proposal to bring free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) platforms under regulation.
FAST Factor
“If TRAI is moving to regulate FAST and other application-based linear TV services, then the legacy restrictions on DTH and cable also need to be revisited simultaneously,” an industry executive said, adding that partial regulation could further distort competition.
Bharti, in a submission to the regulator, viewed by Fe, has called for amends towards pricing and packaging flexibility, arguing that current rules limit consumer choice. It has also flagged issues such as caps on carriage fees, restrictions on bundling channels, and compliance burdens, which it says have made it difficult for traditional platforms to compete with OTT and free-to-air alternatives.
In addition, the distributors Fe spoke to said that the current rules for broadcasting mandate that only channels priced at ₹19 or below can be included in bouquets, to which they face restrictions on mixing free-to-air and pay channels or bundling HD and SD variants together.
DTH sector is currently seeing a declining trend in subscriber numbers and revenue pressures, with consumers migrating either to free platforms such as DD Free Dish or to OTT services. According to TRAI data, the average paying DTH subscriber base fell by 12.4% compared to the previous year, reaching 50.99 million by December 2025 down from 58.22 million in December 2024 indicating a loss of over 7 million subscribers within that timeframe.
Shrinking Pie
Apart from tariff-related concerns, companies has also said that certain structural imbalances remain in the licensing and regulatory framework leading to higher compliance and financial obligations for DTH operators than competing platforms offering similar content. Companies want the needle moved to rationalise licence fees, including reducing them to 3% of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) and eventually phasing them out, though these proposals are yet to be implemented.
In a separate letter written by Bharti Telemedia to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), the company wrote, “The License Fee should be brought down to zero in the next three years, and DTH Licensees should not be charged any license fee after the end of the financial year 2026-2027,”
The pricing and bundling rules stem from the New Tariff Order (NTO) framework introduced by the TRAI in 2017, which was brought to force to improve transparency and give consumers greater control over channel selection. Industry players, however believe that frequent amendments and prescriptive norms have instead made pricing more complex and reduced flexibility for distributors, while failing to keep pace with the changes in content consumption.
As the regular is examining the the category of app-based linear TV services, including FAST platforms, stakeholders have pinned hopes for the ongoing consultation process to go beyond bringing new players under regulation and address legacy constraints on traditional operators. They are pushing for a shift toward “light-touch” or principle-based regulation, like in the telecom sector, where pricing and packaging are largely market-driven.