The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) will meet the stakeholders for an Open House Discussion (OHD) on December 5 for consultation paper on Audit related provisions of Interconnection Regulations, 2017 and Digital Addressable Systems Audit Manual. TRAI had received 55 responses from the industry.
Storyboard18 had first reported about the clash between broadcasters and DPOs. The industry appears divided over the removal of Clause 15.1 of the Interconnection Regulations 2017, which mandates television channel distributors to have their systems audited annually.
TRAI had issued the consultation paper on August 9 seeking responses from stakeholders until September 6 and counter comments until September 20. The stakeholders responding to TRAI included IBDF, AIDCF, DEN Network, GTPL Hathway, Dish TV, SITI Networks, TATA Play, Airtel, SP Chopra, Piyush Mishra & Co, KR Sriram & Co, Vishwam Cable Network, Uday Infosys, and other private cable network operators in the country.
In its response to TRAI, only the Indian Broadcasting & Digital Foundation (IBDF) advocated for the removal of regulation 15 (1) under the Interconnection Regulations, 2017, and suggested that broadcasters should have the primary right to audit. This aligns with the broadcasters’ interest in making changes to the audit system, as subscriber under-reporting by DPOs during audits leads to financial losses for them.
While The All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF) has stated that TRAI should retain regulation 15 (1) and has requested that the authority share a list of non-compliant DPOs on its website. They further requested that broadcasters be mandated not to provide signals to these non-compliant DPOs.
Most distributors, such as DEN Network, GTPL Hathway, Dish TV, SITI Networks Ltd, TATA Play, and Airtel, support keeping regulation 15 (1) and have even suggested better enforcement.
Interestingly, TATA Play and Airtel have suggested removing provision 15 (2) of the Interconnection Regulations, 2017, which allows for broadcaster-initiated audits.