Leading Direct-to-Home (DTH) service provider Dish TV has urged the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to consider deduction of subscription charges from revenues for the purpose of calculation of licence fee paid by DTH companies.

The company said this should be done in view of the recent notification of the Interconnection Regulations 2017 and Tariff Order 2017.

Currently, DTH players are mandated to pay 10 per cent of their gross revenues as annual licence fee. In the recommendation made in April this year, TRAI suggested that the licence fee payable by the DTH operators to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting should be 8 per cent of the adjusted gross revenues, instead of gross revenues. It also said the adjusted gross revenues should be calculated by excluding the GST actually paid to the government.

In a letter to TRAI Chairman, Dish TV Managing Director Jawahar Goel has said subscription charges should be treated as a “pass-through item” for the purpose of determination of licence fee to be paid by DTH operators.

Limited role

In his letter to TRAI, Goel stressed that the notification of the tariff order substantiates that content fee “collected for and paid to the broadcasters” must be allowed as a deduction while calculating the DTH licence fee.

“With the implementation of the new regime, the role of the digital platform operator (DPO) shall become limited to the extent of a pipe/network through which channels/bouquets will be offered to the consumers….all the DPOs including DTH operators will act as mere collection agent of the broadcasters” with regard to subscription charges, Goel said, adding that, therefore, subscription charges should be excluded for calculation of adjusted gross revenues for the purpose of levying licence fee.

The logic of “pass-through items” as followed in the telecom industry should also be applied to the DTH industry, the company said.

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