TRAI to take up TV channels pricing issue

NEW DELHI: Broadcast regulator TRAI is considering initiating a dialogue on issues related to the present mechanism of pricing TV channels after broadcasters raised their concerns about "flaws" in the system.

"... Broadcasters spoke to me last week. We are trying to start a dialogue. Devise a solution," TRAI Chairman Rahul Khullar said, adding that he could not give any assurance to them on this issue for now.

He said the issue of pricing mechanism is still subjudice.

On the recent recommendation on guidelines for TV rating agencies, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Chairmam said that the present system was "broken" and it is getting fixed now.

"There were things which were broken like the TRP system, which is getting fixed and also the under-reporting of consumers which too is getting fixed with digitisation," he said.

However, TRAI has supported self regulation and has stuck to its guns on its latest recommendations on rating agencies for television channels.

Khullar said there are some other issues like monopolies in cable sectors in some states, aggregators etc and they were being looked into.

On the issue of cross holding in the media, he said, "I think it's a very difficult area but its something which needs to be tackled because we simply cannot carry on in the manner in which we have in the past."

Meanwhile, Star India CEO Uday Shankar said that current pricing of channels was uneconomical and not viable for channels beaming quality contents.

"The pricing of channels was fixed several years ago and it is a fundamentally flawed concept that you say that the pricing of all channels in the same category should be similar," Shankar told PTI.
Shankar, who was speaking on the sidelines of the CII Big Picture Summit, said the cost incurred by a movie channel that shows new movies is more than a channel that shows old movies. He also questioned why the prices of channels were fixed when competition itself could keep prices low.

Earlier, Khullar said that new technologies are affecting the way content is being delivered and received adding that he felt that in India there is a long road ahead before the sort of convergence that has happened in US, Japan or Korea is witnessed.

He said that non-availability of spectrum in the broadcast sector could hamper many ambitious plans.