NEW DELHI: News broadcasters have agreed to pay reasonable carriage fees after the roll out of digitisation on 1 November, the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) said on Thursday. It said news broadcasters are willing to pay MSOs 50 paise to Re 1 per set top box subscriber, per channel per year as carriage fee.

The NBA statement follows a meeting chaired by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairperson Rahul Khullar on 11 October with representatives of the MSO Alliance, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation, and the NBA to discuss the progress of digitisation and the issue of payment of carriage fees by broadcasters (inclusive of marketing fees, tiering fees, packaging fees or fees or charges under any other nomenclature) under the digitised regime.

Earlier, news broadcasters were concerned about unreasonable carriage fees continuing even after the switch to digitisation. While placement fee has been specifically prohibited by Trai, broadcasters were concerned about the lack of clarity with regard to carriage fees. Broadcasters were unsure whether they were required to pay carriage fee at all after digitisation, and if required, what would be the rates.

Khullar mentioned that his predecessor had indicated what reasonable carriage fees should be in a digitised regime and stated that boundaries had been laid down and he would expect carriage deals with news broadcasters to be within these bounds. He also exhorted broadcasters and MSOs to enter into agreements on carriage fees within the "next few days" so that all is set by the time digitisation rolls out in the four metros from the 1 November.

In view of this, the NBA said despite the earlier objection of news broadcasters to the payment of any carriage fees whatsoever, they are now agreeable to enter into agreements with MSOs for an initial period of one year, for the payment of carriage fees (inclusive of marketing fees, tiering fees, packaging fees or fees or charges under any other nomenclature) in the digitised areas, at a rate of 50 paise to one rupee per set top box subscriber, per channel per year, which is the reasonable rate and boundary set by the former TRAI chairperson and mentioned as such by the current chairperson at the meeting on 11 October 2012.

NBA said, "News broadcasters are grateful to the TRAI chairperson for taking proactive action in resolving the vexatious issue of carriage in a statesmanlike manner."

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News channels, MSOs wrangle over carriage fee

New Delhi: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has extended till 24 September the date for comments by stakeholders on its draft amended regulations with regard to advertisements on television channels.

Trai has reiterated in the draft amendments that the advertisement duration ceiling of twelve minutes per hour announced by it on 14 May this year was as mandated by the central government.

TRAI said in a statement on Tuesday that the decision to extend the period for comments was taken at the request of stakeholders. The amended regulations were issued on 27 August and responses were sought by 11 September.

In the amended regulations, while TRAI suggested that the restriction on maximum duration of advertisements carried in the programmes of a TV channel shall be regulated on a clock hour basis, it brought live telecast of sports into the ambit of the regulations.

The draft regulation "Standards of Quality of Service (Duration of Advertisements in Television Channels) (Amendment) Regulations, 2012" said the provisions in the Cable TV Networks Rules 1994 with regard to the maximum duration of advertisements that can be carried per hour cannot be applied differently for different hours of the day, thereby discriminating the consumers? viewing experience depending upon the hour of the day.

Noting that the duration and the format of advertisements on TV channels were generally not in accordance with the provisions laid down in the advertising code under the Rules, TRAI had on 16 March this year issued a consultation paper, "Issues related to Advertisements in the TV channels", with the primary objective of striking a balance between giving a consumer a good TV viewing experience and protecting the commercial interests of broadcasters.

Based on the views/comments of the stakeholders, including consumers and consumer organisations, analysis of various aspects, facts and available studies, TRAI had notified the "Standards of Quality of Service (Duration Of Advertisements in Television Channels) Regulations" on 14 May 2012.

This had been challenged by several broadcasters in Tdsat and so the regulator decided to review the Standards of Quality of Service (Duration of Advertisements in Television Channels) Regulations, dated 14 May 2012.

NEW DELHI: The government hopes to earn over Rs 15 billion from the auction of 839 FM radio channels in 294 cities.

Information and Broadcasting Ministry sources told indiantelevison.com that it will hold ascending e-auction as recommended by the Group of Ministers and followed in the case of 3G and BWA by the Telecom Department.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended reduction in the minimum channel spacing from 800 KHz to 400 KHz within a licence service area in FM radio sector in India. The recommendation is under ?active consideration? of the Ministry, the sources said.

Under the Phase III Policy, the permission for the channels would be granted on the basis of non-refundable one-time entry fee, that is, the successful bid amount to be arrived at through an ascending e-auction process mutatis mutandis as recommended by the GoM. The cost would be determined through price discovery during the e-auction process.

The e-auction, expected to begin early next year, may take another two or three years in view of the large number of stations.

The sources said apart from the problems that may arise because of the first-time e-auction for which cabinet permission will be sought in advance to avoid delays, issues such as charging of migration fee from existing permission holders, and specific departures in the Requests for Proposals (RFP) had not been taken into account when the Cabinet had approved the Phase III proposals on 7 July last year.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has prepared a note which has been circulated to the concerned ministries/departments for their views, before it is put up before the Union Cabinet in the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, the Ministry is expected to call for tenders for e-auction later this month. The pre-qualification for the bidders is expected to be completed in another two months, following which the qualified companies will be allowed to participate in the e-auction for FM Phase III.

FM Phase-III Policy will extend FM radio services to about 227 new cities, in addition to the present 86 cities. Among the four metros, only Kolkata is not getting any new FM channel. While Mumbai will get two, Delhi and Chennai will get one each.

Under Phase-II currently in existence, 245 FM channels are operational covering 86 cities, each with a population of over 300,000 or more.

NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) will make another attempt at formulating regulations on cross ownership of media - print, television, radio and new media.

The sector regulator is working on a fresh comprehensive consultation paper on cross media ownership that will seek views on both vertical and horizontal integration of ownership of media.

Trai chairman Rahul Khullar said there was a definite need for regulations which were customised to the Indian scenario on cross ownership of media and not borrowed from in other countries. He said the regulator would draw up rules and regulations on cross ownership of media after the views of stakeholders are received.

Earlier in 2008 Trai had released a consultation paper on media ownership, seeking views from the industry players. He wondered why the government was "dragging its feet" on regulating cross ownership of media.

Addressing a Roundtable on Cross Media Ownership, Khullar said technology was moving at a fast pace and the presence of media was overwhelming in many ways. He, however, said any rules or regulations had to be done in a manner which will not affect the freedom of the press and will also safeguard content.

He flagged certain issues that would be kept in view while drawing up the regulations. These included conflict of interest, domination in and by the media, reduced competition because of the presence of media magnates, and the need for plurality of content and ownership which was essential to the freedom of the press.

Khullar said the regulator would, with the help of the Competition Commission of India (CCI), attempt to ensure that there are a minimum number of mergers and acquisitions. A consultation paper will spell out restrictions, make mandatory disclosure requirements, spell out levels of market share which will ensure plurality and diversity, list general disqualifications, recommend how cross media ownership can be dealt with, set rules for disaggregated markets, and ensure minimum mergers and acquisitions.

He said vertical concentration meant cases where the producer of content and the distributor of that content were both owned by the same individual or business house as this created a monopoly. Horizontal concentration implied all forms of media - print, radio, television, and new media - owned by the same group/individual. He pointed out that horizontal concentration was barred in most countries.

Horizontal concentration could lead to lack of diversity in content, and could lead to play of market and extra-market forces which could bring in political influence as well, he said.

He said in most countries, advertising agencies and political parties were not allowed to have stakes in the media, and newspaper owners and broadcast owners were not allowed to have stakes in other media. Furthermore, there was restriction on foreign ownerships, and individuals were not permitted to control a majority.

Answering a question, he said ways could be found to deal with those magnates or corporates who already had large concentration, vertically as well as horizontally.

Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Prakash Javadekar, who was a member of the Paid News sub-committee of the Press Council of India, said self-regulation and not government regulation was necessary if freedom of the press had to be ensured. He also made a plea for enlarging the Press Council into a Media Council that included the electronic media, though he admitted that television channels were opposed to this.

INX News Editor Jehangir Pocha stressed the need to define cross media ownership, and to decide who can own the media: mediapersons, tycoons, or corporates.

Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad‘s Paramita Das Gupta, which had prepared a study on cross media ownership on behalf of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, said the report had clearly established that there was large scale concentration in a few hands, both vertically and horizontally.

She named Sun TV, Essel Group, Star India, and reliance ADAG as the top houses with large-scale horizontal and vertical cross media ownership, while five major groups - which she did not name - owned the largest number of TV and radio channels.

She referred to the Broadcast Services Regulation Bill 2007, and wondered how the government had arrived at the figure of 20 per cent cross-media ownership.

She said that a sectoral convergence regulator was necessary to check cross-media ownership and should work in tandem with the Competition Commission.

Assocham National Council on Communications Convergence chairman TV Ramachandran wanted social networks also to be regulated to avoid misuse.

Competition Commission Member R Prasad said the theory of public interest generally means government control. Pluralism was necessary and the stranglehold of a few had to be stopped. The Competition Commission came into the picture only when consolidation happened in any sector, with the aim of preventing monopoly.

Hindu‘s Siddharth Varadarajan said unfair practices had taken strong roots in the media, beginning with the price wars and then paid news. The choice had become limited despite the number of publications and TV channels. He said technology was ahead of regulation and therefore the government should act quickly.