B in I&B is eroded as CAS buck will now stop at TRAI

For the sake of CAS, I&B Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad may have lost half his kingdom. The Ministry of Communication and Information Technolo...

For the sake of CAS, I&B Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad may have lost half his kingdom. The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology today notified that broadcasting and cable services were telecommunication services under the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997.

In other words, TRAI will act as regulator for broadcasting and cable services. The notification seeks to put at rest the confusion around CAS by handing over its monitoring and upkeep to TRAI under the chairmanship of Pradeep Baijal.

The move was seen as essential to give the I&B ministry some reprieve by allowing an independent regulator to look into broadcasters/cable operators and multi-service operators after hectic discussions with Law Ministry, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology and the I&B Ministry.

TRAI will now have the power of not only regulating the price of channels as it thinks fit, it will also have the powers to ensure that cable operators do not increase cable services in areas not notified under CAS. The move also follows a December High Court order asking the Government to implement CAS in Delhi will giving three months to monitor its progress, after quashing an appeal by the I&B ministry to put off CAS in South Delhi in view of elections. Significantly, the notification signals the end of a turf war between I&B Ministry and the Ministry of Telecommunications which began with the introduction of the Convergence Bill two years ago.

That Bill had sought to take away carriage and content from I&B and put it under the surveillance of super convergence regulator—bitterly contested by the I&B ministry.

Now the TRAI has been empowered to recommend measures to facilitate competition and promote efficiency in broadcasting services; ensure compliance of terms and conditions of licence; technical compatibility and effective inter-connection between different service providers and regulate arrangements amongst service providers. It will also lay down standards of quality to be provided by service providers and monitor these.

On the CAS front, TRAI will not only recommend the terms and conditions on which the systems shall be provided to customers, it will also give directions on regulating maximum time for advertisments in pay channels as well as other channels. Ministry officials said this was one way to arrive at a speedy solution to the CAS mess. The TRAI is expected to start consultations with various stake holders and then make recommendations to the Government.