The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is working on a consultation paper to streamline the process of providing licences to television channels, said Trai secretary SK Gupta in the capital on Tuesday. “Currently the process of getting a licence for a TV channel is very cumbersome. We have undertaken a study after a reference was made by the ministry of information and broadcasting. The idea stems from the various initiatives the government has taken under the ease of doing business.” Early this month, in its effort to earn some extra revenue, besides ensuring transparency in providing channels licence, the government is planning to auction TV channel frequencies on the lines of private FM frequencies and telecom spectrum. The I&B ministry had sought suggestions from Trai on changes which can be introduced in the process for allocation of news and entertainment TV channels.
