Trai issues draft audit manual for DRM-based digital addressable systems, seeks comments by October 30

Mumbai: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has issued a draft audit manual for digital rights management (DRM)-based digital addressable systems, inviting comments from industry stakeholders by October 30.

Trai introduced DRM requirements for IPTV-based distribution in September 2023. These cover subscriber management systems (SMS), conditional access and encryption, fingerprinting, and subscriber identification.

The audit verifies the correctness and completeness of monthly subscription reports submitted to broadcasters. The existing Digital Addressable Systems Audit Manual, issued in March 2026, provides audit procedures for conventional conditional access system (CAS), SMS and set-top box-based systems, but does not contain corresponding clause-wise procedures for DRM-based systems.


The draft manual sets out procedures for pre-signal or compliance audits and subscription audits of DRM-based systems. It also covers software applications installed on consumer devices by IPTV operators where they perform set-top box functions. The draft specifies that data between SMS and DRM systems must be reconciled monthly. Reconciliation reports must be retained for a minimum of three years or at least three audit cycles, or as prescribed under applicable requirements, whichever is later.

The audit procedures include checks on SMS-DRM data mismatches. The draft lists thresholds of less than 0.20% for subscriber bases up to 100,000, less than 0.04% for bases up to one million, and less than 0.01% for bases above 10 million.