Mumbai: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Wednesday issued a consultation paper on the renewal of multi-system operators (MSOs) registration.

The ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) sent a reference to the telecom regulator seeking recommendations on issues pertaining to the MSO renewal procedure. As per the letter, MIB stated that the policy guidelines for uplinking/downlinking of channels prescribe ten years as the permission period. The renewal period is also mentioned as ten years. In the direct-to-home (DTH) sector, the guidelines mention the licence validity for a period of twenty years, renewable by ten years at a time.

MIB said, "To maintain uniformity with the DTH and broadcasting sector and considering the validity of security clearance, MIB has proposed to keep the renewal period of MSO registration after every ten years."

MIB also noted that, at present, there is no provision for renewal in the existing guidelines for registration for headend-in-the-sky (HITS) services. It said that Trai may initiate a separate consultation for the renewal of HITS services.

The consultation paper seeks the comments of stakeholders on relevant issues pertaining to the renewal of MSO registration, including the quantum fee to be paid for such renewal.

The key issues addressed in the consultation paper are:1) what should be the qualifying conditions, if any, to be prescribed for MSO renewal? 2) list of required compliances for MSO registration renewal 3) Renewing period 4) Should a one-time fee be charged at the time of renewal? 5) Should there be a window to apply for renewal before the expiry of MSO registration? 6) provision to ensure continuity of service to consumers on the expiry of registration.

Background

The cable TV industry in India commenced as an unregulated service in the late 1980s. The services were driven by the need of customers for alternative entertainment options to Doordarshan. This sector saw exponential growth with the launch of channels such as Star TV and Zee TV in 1992. As more local cable operators mushroomed across the country, a need arose to regulate the service, leading to the promulgation of Cable Television Networks, Rules, 1995.

Trai brought the broadcasting and cable services under the ambit of Trai in 2004, which ensured orderly growth of the sector while protecting the interests of consumers. According to EY, India is the second largest pay TV market after China, with 197 million TV households growing at a 7.5 per cent year on year rate.

Pay TV services are primarily delivered through cable TV and direct-to-home (DTH) systems. Other modes of transmission, such as Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) and headend-in-the-sky (HITS), have a smaller subscriber base.

The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995, formalised the cable TV sector in India but resulted in operational challenges for local cable operators (LCOs) who did not have sophisticated equipment or resources to receive broadcast signals from large numbers of satellites before sending them to their subscribers.

This led to the launch of MSOs who received the signals of different television channels, combined them and transmitted this combined feed to multiple LCOs. The MSOs were the middle men in the hierarchy of the cable services sector, between the broadcasters on one hand and local cable operators on the other.

The MSOs established head-ends in metros and major towns to receive TV signals from different TV broadcasters, aggregate and distribute these signals to LCOs, who further transmit them to subscribers through cables. In some instances, MSOs also provide the services directly to their consumers.

The evolution of technology paved the way for the digitization of the cable TV sector. With the introduction of the digital addressable system (DAS), the government amended the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994 by issuing the Cable Television Networks (Amendment) Rules, 2012.

As per the amended rules, MSOs operating in DAS areas are required to obtain the necessary permission from MIB in addition to registration as a cable operator. As per MIB, the number of MSOs has grown from 29 in 2012 to 1762 in March 2022, as per MIB.