|
'IPTV
Out Of The Cable Act' - TRAI Proposes
The
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India ("TRAI") has put
forth a proposal that Internet Protocol Television ("IPTV")
should be regulated under the existing telecom licences, so as
to facilitate its growth in the country.
IPTV
IPTV
is a system where a digital television service is delivered over
a broadband connection instead of the traditional way of transmitting
through a cable network.
TRAI
has noted that certain problems are likely to arise if IPTV is
to be governed under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation)
Act, 1995 ("Cable Act"). This is because IPTV services
were not conceived at the time of enactment of the Cable Act,
which aimed to regulate the conventional cable TV system. Some
of the problems likely to arise if IPTV is brought within the
scope of the Cable Act are as follows.
- Section
4A of Cable Act provides that in the transmission of free-to-air
channels, an addressable system should not be a pre-requisite.
However, technological requirement of IPTV to deliver content
through a Set Top Box ("STB") could lead to non-compliance of
Section 4A.
- Use of
different protocols by different companies and lack of standardization
for IPTV services would violate the requirement of Section 9
of Cable Act, which requires the use of equipment conforming
to Indian Standards.
- TRAI has
also proposed to hold the telecom operators liable for regulation
of content by way of requirement of compliance with the Programme
Code and the Advertising Code.
Implementation
of this proposal could cause a major setback to the television
broadcasters who have all along been demanding keeping IPTV within
the ambit of the Cable TV Act. It also implies that telecom operators
would be able to freely offer IPTV using their broadband network
and on the basis of the telecom licenses that they currently hold.
Foreign
direct investment
Moreover,
in the context of the above issues there may be a need to revisit
the FDI norms that may be applicable for entities providing IPTV
services, as currently FDI is only prescribed in respect of cable
TV services (49 %) and telecom service operators (74%), subject
to certain regulations.
Applicability
of other guidelines
Also,
the relationship between Downlinking and Uplinking Guidelines
and the IPTV service provider would need clarity. Currently, the
regulations are constrictive to the extent that they prohibit
cable operators/DTH providers from carrying unregistered TV Channels,
while they are silent on service providers who provide TV channels
through other mediums such as IPTV.
Comments
on TRAI's proposed amendments have been invited from all stakeholders
by June 23, 2006.
Implications
IPTV may be one of the first instances in India of voice, video
and data being provided on a single network and on a large scale.
This in turn leads to convergence of telecom and entertainment
services, thereby raising the need for a new regulatory framework
which holds no rigid distinction between telecom service providers
and television/entertainment service providers.
India
proposed a Convergence Bill in the year 2000, which attempted
to address the issues of regulating converged telecom and entertainment
services. However, till date the Bill awaits enactment.
|
|
|
You
can direct your queries or comments to the authors
|
Source:
|
