In a major relief to over 62 million cable TV subscribers in non-CAS areas, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has decided to put a ceiling on the prices that cable operators can charge. Prices will be uniform. Ceiling will be calculated based on the number of TV channels a household subscribes to. Trai will issue the new tariff order within a month.In the absence of proper regulation, different cable TV subscribers in the same area pay different tariff. “We have decided to do away with the existing system of pricing for cable TV subscribers in non CAS areas,” said a Trai official.Present tariff order envisages that the charges payable by subscribers to the cable operators, by cable operators to multi-system operators (MSO), and by MSOs to broadcasters would be the rates prevailing as on December 26, 2003. It also provides a window for increase or decrease in the ceiling on account of introduction or deletion of new pay channels under certain conditions.Trai has decided not to go for forbearance of tariff in non CAS areas, said the official. This goes against big broadcasters’ wish under which the regulator should not intervene in pricing of cable TV services; they want market forces to decide the tariff. Most operators were lobbying for forbearance of tariff. However, consumer organisations want Trai to intervene. They want a regulation similar to the one prevailing in CAS areas.In the last seven months, CAS has been made compulsory in some parts of three metros. Meanwhile, Direct To Home (DTH) service operators are also becoming aggressive and are giving tough fight to cable TV service providers.In case of CAS, Trai has defined a ceiling that subscribers have to pay to cable TV operators and has specified the tariff that cable TV providers will pay to broadcasters. However, in case of DTH, the regulator has not prescribed any ceiling and operators are free to charge any amount from subscribers.“We are presently working out how the tariff at various level of distribution chain, that is, between broadcasters and MSOs and between MSOs and cable operator, will be determined,” said the official.
