Broadbandindia Magazine

In order to keep pace with the rapid growth of the cable and broadcast industry, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) floated a consultation paper on interconnection issues relating to broadcasting and cable services. The previous interconnection norms for the cable sector were issued nearly four years ago, when there were about 45 million analogue cable homes.

During the period, the number of cable homes has doubled, of which nearly 10% are digital cable homes that access channels via set-top boxes. There has undoubtedly been a marked increase in deployment of addressable platforms for distribution of TV channels.

Backup

IPTV services and voluntary CAS have been rolled out by many service providers. In the near future, Head-End In The Sky (HITS) and mobile TV services are   also likely to be available. The number of subscribers being served by the DTH services has also gone up significantly.

Interconnection issues

The Trai paper covers interconnection issues for addressable cable platforms (via a set-top box) and non-addressable plat- forms (analogue cable), general   interconnection issues as well as those related to registration of interconnection agreements.

In the paper, Trai has raised several issues like the need to regulate carriage fees and its various aspects; whether one interconnection norm should govern all cable and direct-tohome platforms; and whether the regulation should mandate publishing of interconnect agreements for addressable systems instead of interconnect offers, among others.

This issue has been raised at the behest of several stakeholders to avoid disputes and litigation that arises as a result of the absence of written interconnection agreements between the broadcasters and the cable operators, Trai said.

RIOs to be discussed

According to the regulator, the addressable platforms for distribution of TV channels reportedly face problems in availing of the content from the broadcasters.  Therefore, the issue of publishing Reference Interconnect Offers (RIOs) by the broadcasters for all addressable systems will be discussed.

Trai has also sought comments on the need for regulating the carriage fee charged by distributors of TV channels.