TRAI recommends new approach to set radio ads, programme code

New Delhi The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has recommended that radio broadcasters be allowed to concurrently broadcast the same content online to create a new revenue stream for the sector and suggested that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting prescribe a Programme Code and Advertisement Code for all radio services, including All India Radio, instead of the Prasar Bharati.

These recommendations were a part of the regulator’s recommendations on “Framework for Service Authorisations for provision of Broadcasting Services under the Telecommunications Act, 2023” released on Friday.

This concurrent online radio broadcast should be “linear” in nature without “user control”, that is, features such as downloading, replay, etc. should not be available, as is the case with traditional radio.

TRAI has recommended that authorisations for private FM radio under the Telecommunications Act should now also include digital technologies. This new authorisation should be called authorisation for “Terrestrial Radio Services” and should be valid pan India, instead of a specific city. “This would enable the authorised entity to obtain frequency spectrum in any city(ies) of the country,” the regulator said. It has said that for these radio services, there should be a separate auction for frequency assignment.

It also recommended that private companies authorised to offer FM radio services should have the freedom to decide whether they should use digital or analog FM technology, depending on their business.

TRAI suggested that the MIB should notify two sets of rules under the Telecommunications Act to deal with authorisations for broadcasting services: the Broadcasting (Grant of Service Authorisations) Rules; and the Broadcasting (Television Channel Broadcasting, Television Channel Distribution, and Radio Broadcasting) Services Rules.

However, migration of existing licensees or permission holders to the new regime will be voluntary, until the expiry of their current licence/permission. TRAI has recommended that changes to the terms and conditions of service authorisations should require the regulator’s recommendations, except for national security purposes.

The first set of rules, TRAI said, should include the terms and conditions for granting the different broadcasting service authorisations while the second set of rules should define the terms and conditions for providing each of the four kinds of authorised services.

In its recommendations, TRAI noted that “OTT”, that is, over-the-top is an “overarching term” that includes both OTT communication services (such as WhatsApp) and OTT application services including media services (such as Netflix). It said that regulation of OTT services requires “a wider examination” and if any recommendations are sought from the regulator, they should be addressed through a separate consultation process.

TRAI recommended that Free Ad-supported Streaming Television (FAST) channels such as Yupp TV, Vodafone Play, Tata Play should be brought within the authorisation framework through a separate authorisation under TV Channel Distribution Services as they currently stream TV channels without regulation, leading to “regulatory arbitrage”.

It also recommended that the licence free for DTH service providers should be reduced to 3 per cent of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) instead of the extant 8 per cent.

TRAI also recommended that broadcasting service providers and telecom/infrastructure operators should be able to share infrastructure between them wherever it is technically and commercially feasible.

It has also recommended that TV channel distribution service providers should adopt interoperable set-top boxes (STBs) whose standards can be defined by the Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC).

TRAI has also proposed that for internet service providers (ISPs) who want to provide internet protocol television (IPTV) services, the ₹100 crore minimum net worth requirement should be removed.