The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Wednesday made amendments to the new regulatory framework for cable and broadcasting services under which cable TV users will be able to access more channels at lower subscription price.

TRAI capped the amount consumers will have to pay monthly for all free-to-air channels at Rs 160.

In homes where there are more than one TV connection in the name of one person, it will charge a maximum of 40 percent of declared Network Capacity Fee (NCF) for the second and additional TV connections, the TRAI statement said.

The maximum NCF charge has also been reduced to Rs 130 (excluding taxes) for 200 channels. The channels declared mandatory by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting will not be counted in the number of channels in the NCF.

Distribution Platform Operators (DPOs) to offer discounts on long-term subscriptions which are for six months or more have also been permitted.

The sum of the a-la-carte rates of the pay channels forming part of a bouquet shall in no case exceed one and a half times the rate of the bouquet of which such pay channels are a part, it said.

The a-la-carte rates, forming part of a bouquet, should not exceed three times the average rate of a pay channel of the bouquet of which such pay channel is a part, it said.

Only those channels which have an maximum retail price (MRP) of Rs 12 or less will be permitted to be part of the bouquet offered by broadcasters.

It has also considered the concern of broadcasters regarding huge carriage fee being charged by DPOs, TRAI said.

A cap of Rs 4 lakh per month has been prescribed on carriage fee payable by a broadcaster to a DPO in a month for carrying a channel in the country.

It has mandated that channel of a language in a genre will be kept together while placing channels on EPG and considered giving more flexibility to DPOs to place the TV channels on Electronic Programme Guide (EPG).

The statement said that such EPG lay out is to be mandatorily reported to the authority and no change in this can be done without prior approval.

In the new rules, part of the changes has made to its 2017 tariff order for broadcasting and cable TV services. The new set of rules will be effective from March 1.

(With PTI inputs)

First Published:Jan 2, 2020 12:07 PM IST