The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has directed all broadcasters to abide by the provisions of the New Tariff Amendment Order (NTO 2.0) by 10 August.
Broadcasters are also ordered to publish details including maximum retail price per month of channels and maximum retail price per month of bouquets of channels, composition of bouquets and also amended reference interconnect offer (RIO) and other on their website.
The regulatory body said, “In order to promote orderly growth of the sector and to balance the interests of service providers and to safeguard the interest of the consumers, it is necessary to give effect to Tariff Amendment Order 2020 and interconnection amendment regulations 2020 without any further delay.”
On 1 January 2020, TRAI had notified the NTO 2.0 and the interconnection amendment. “TRAI has issued directions to all broadcasters to ensure compliance of various provisions of the Telecommunication (broadcasting and cable) services dated 1 January 2020 and telecommunications (broadcasting and cable) services interconnection regulations,” the governing body added.
NTO 2.0 came as a shock to most of them involved in the media and entertainment (M&E) business as TRAI introduced fresh changes to the tariff order by lowering the maximum ceiling on the price of TV channels to Rs 12, against the earlier price of Rs 19 (as per NTO 1 in February 2019), besides a bunch of other regulations.
According to Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), NTO 2.0 will bring major disruptions in M&E industry in India.