Trai to formulate medium term policy for broadcasting sector

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) will come out with a policy framework for the broadcasting sector with a vision till 2020, deliberations for which have begun over a two day seminar on Thursday. The seminar is aimed at re-defining existing business models, understanding evolving technologies , innovation, trends and changing consumer dynamics.

A number of experts from India and abroad will discuss various issues, challenges and emerging trend for the broadcasting sector, including the use and untapped potential of broadcasting for improving education, health, governance and how the farmers community and agricultural sector can make use of the powerful broadcasting media."It is expected that deliberations would result in developing strategies and recommendations for addressing some concerns related to broadcasting sector in India," the regulator said in a statement. "The objective of the seminar is to draft a blueprint for the policy and regulatory roadmap for digital broadcasting in India with vision of 2020," it added.

The broadcasting sector has evolved over the years and is contributing to nearly half of total revenue of overall media and entertainment industry. India has over 900 private satellite TV channels, 35 TV channels of public sector broadcaster (Doordarshan), 200 community radio stations, 281 private FM channels and several radio channels of All India Radio. Broadcasting TV distribution sector comprises of more than 60000 local cable operators, more than 1200 multi system operators, 7 DTH operators and a few IPTV service providers. In order to create an enabling environment for growth of the broadcasting sector in the light of various developments related to technology, emergence of multiple distribution platforms, evolving business models, and enhanced addressability across platforms, TRAI brought out unified regulatory framework in March, 2017 for all addressable broadcasting TV services which includes tariff, interconnection and Quality of service regulations. This framework is expected to usher a new era in the broadcasting sector where MRP of the TV channel will be declared by the broadcasters directly to the consumers and will bring more transparency and choices to the consumers, the regulator said. "The telecommunication and broadcasting sectors are at the cusp of another change - transition from voice to data and finally to converged services. In this scenario, TRAI is gearing up to meet the future challenges and this seminar is one of the steps in this direction," it added.