Facilitate sharing of broadcast distribution infra: TRAI to govt

In a bid to facilitate reduction of capital and operative expenditure in the broadcast distribution sector, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Wednesday released its recommendations on sharing of infrastructure in the sector.

The regulator said the government should encourage sharing of infrastructure where it is technically feasible for Multi-System Operators (MSO), Direct-to-Home (DTH) service providers and HITS (Headend-in-the-Sky) operators on a voluntarily basis. However, it has added that the responsibility of compliance to various regulations will continue to be on each of these distributors independently.

The regulator said sharing of infrastructure among distributors will help bring down cable and DTH bills for consumers, provide them with more choices and promote competition in the broadcasting distribution sector.

“To enable sharing of head-end used for cable TV services, the MSO registration condition regarding ‘having an independent digital head-end of his own and provide digital addressable cable services from his head-end’ should be suitably amended so as to allow sharing of head-end,” it said in its recommendations released on Wednesday.

In the DTH sector, the regulator has recommended that the operators be allowed to share the DTH platform and transport stream of TV channels voluntarily after written intimation to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and TRAI. The regulator believes this will help DTH service providers make efficient use of scarce satellite resources.

The TRAI said its recommendations aim to help enhance the available distribution capacities, reduce capital and operative expenditure, which will in turn help bring down the prices of broadcasting services for consumers. It will also help lower the entry barriers for new service providers, provide space for niche channels and promote competition in the sector.

Similarly, it has said that HITS operators and MSOs should be permitted to share the HITS platform. It also said distributors of TV channels should be permitted to share the common hardware for their subscriber-management systems applications and conditional access system applications.

“While sharing the infrastructure with another distributor of TV channels, the responsibility of compliance to the relevant Acts/rules/regulations/licence/orders/directions/guidelines would continue to be of each distributor of TV channels independently,” it added.

The Information and Broadcasting Minister had sought these recommendations from TRAI last year, which it has released after a comprehensive consultation process.

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