• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Our Bureau

New Delhi, Nov. 28 The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has suggested that both telecom operators and cable TV operators should be allowed to offer Internet Television Protocol (IPTV).

In a draft recommendation released on Wednesday, the telecom regulator has also said that the Cable TV Act should be amended to allow broadcasters to provide signals to all distributors of TV channels such as cable operators, Multi System Operators (MSOs), Direct to Home (DTH) operators, Headend In The Sky (HITS) operators and IPTV service providers.

The TRAI recommendations come in the wake of questions being raised as to whether laws governing cable TV permit IPTV services.

Earlier, the telecom regulator had suggested that IPTV should be kept out of the purview of broadcasters and instead allow only telecom players to offer the service. However, this was objected to by the cable operators on the grounds that the service was essentially involving broadcasting and not telecommunications. TRAI subsequently withdrew its recommendations and has now issued fresh draft guidelines to accommodate the interest of broadcasters. The recommendations will be finalised after taking comments from all the stakeholders.

IPTV is a new method of delivering and viewing television programmes using an IP network and high speed broadband technology. It is fast becoming a popular value-added service in many countries. The fast development in telecom technologies, enormous capabilities of IP platform and increasing digitalisation in broadcasting sector are driving the service.

TRAI said that since telecom service providers having Unified Access Services licence and Cellular Mobile Telephony Service licence are permitted to provide triple play service, they can also provide IPTV services as it is within the ambit of triple play services.

Internet Service Providers having net worth of more than Rs 100 crore are permitted to provide IPTV services after obtaining permission from the licensor. Similarly cable TV operators registered under Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act 1995 can provide IPTV service without requiring any further licence.

The regulator however said that telecom operators, while providing TV channels through IPTV, shall transmit only those channels for which broadcasters have received permission from the Government.

Therefore the responsibility to ensure that the content is in accordance with the extant laws, rules, and regulations shall be that of the broadcaster and the telecom company will not be held responsible.

More Stories on : Convergence | Regulatory Bodies & Rulings | Radio/TV

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Reliance Comm, Tata Steel borrow $1.37 b overseas in Sept

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line