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Content aggregators’ regulation this week, says TRAI chairman Rahul Khullar
MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) will come out with its set of regulations for content aggregators this week, laying out guidelines that will have widespread and deep implications for the broadcast sector.
“We are in the process of finalising our regulations [for content aggregators], which will be issued sometime this week,” TRAI chairman Rahul Khullar told TelevisionPost.com in an exclusive interview.
Will the new regulation impose an equity cap on cross-holdings between broadcasters and distribution agencies? “I cannot tell you what is being written into the regulation but what we will try to ensure is fairness to broadcasters, agents of broadcasters who are aggregators and the multi-system operators [MSOs].
There has to be a rebalancing of powers and responsibilities.
So that’s what is going to happen,” said Khullar.
Will rebalancing mean preventing content aggregators from forming bouquets which have channels from more than one broadcaster? “That could be one. But it is work in progress and I can’t talk about it.
We are meeting on Monday and will decide what to do. There are lots of things but something will happen for sure this week,” the TRAI chief asserted. Explaining the rationale for bringing out the new regulations, Khullar said that content aggregators exercise market power over the MSOs.
“The content aggregators are owned by the broadcasters, so it’s not a pure principal-agent relationship.
There are conflicts of interests. That is a serious problem and leads to pricing issues and other difficulties,” Khullar averred.
Taking a serious note of complaints filed by MSOs and local cable operators (LCOs) about abuse of dominant position by television distribution companies like Media Pro, IndiaCast UTV, MSM Discovery and Sun Distribution Services, TRAI had issued a draft notification to correct the existing anomalies in the market.
The main clause in the notification was to ensure that an individual bouquet created by the content aggregator has channels from only one broadcaster.
Content aggregators, however, could continue to sell bouquets of more than one broadcaster.
Was the Competition Commission of India (CCI) right in urging the ministry of corporate affairs to prevent TRAI from going ahead with its consultation papers on issues like cross-media ownership, cable monopoly and content aggregators? “The CCI comes ex post, not ex ante.
The rules of the game within the sector are set by the regulator.
So everybody knows that those ex ante rules are part of those regulations,” Khullar stated. So, does the CCI reaction reflect the outcome of a lobby? “Of course, I know it.
One particular group has gone to the CCI in the hope that they will get protection there. We will see what protection they get,” Khullar asserted.
In the interview, Khullar also spoke about cable monopoly, the agenda of the regulator over the next 3–4 months, the need for cross-media ownership and a whole host of other issues.
Content aggregators’ regulation this week, says TRAI chairman Rahul Khullar | TelevisionPost.com
MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) will come out with its set of regulations for content aggregators this week, laying out guidelines that will have widespread and deep implications for the broadcast sector.
“We are in the process of finalising our regulations [for content aggregators], which will be issued sometime this week,” TRAI chairman Rahul Khullar told TelevisionPost.com in an exclusive interview.
Will the new regulation impose an equity cap on cross-holdings between broadcasters and distribution agencies? “I cannot tell you what is being written into the regulation but what we will try to ensure is fairness to broadcasters, agents of broadcasters who are aggregators and the multi-system operators [MSOs].
There has to be a rebalancing of powers and responsibilities.
So that’s what is going to happen,” said Khullar.
Will rebalancing mean preventing content aggregators from forming bouquets which have channels from more than one broadcaster? “That could be one. But it is work in progress and I can’t talk about it.
We are meeting on Monday and will decide what to do. There are lots of things but something will happen for sure this week,” the TRAI chief asserted. Explaining the rationale for bringing out the new regulations, Khullar said that content aggregators exercise market power over the MSOs.
“The content aggregators are owned by the broadcasters, so it’s not a pure principal-agent relationship.
There are conflicts of interests. That is a serious problem and leads to pricing issues and other difficulties,” Khullar averred.
Taking a serious note of complaints filed by MSOs and local cable operators (LCOs) about abuse of dominant position by television distribution companies like Media Pro, IndiaCast UTV, MSM Discovery and Sun Distribution Services, TRAI had issued a draft notification to correct the existing anomalies in the market.
The main clause in the notification was to ensure that an individual bouquet created by the content aggregator has channels from only one broadcaster.
Content aggregators, however, could continue to sell bouquets of more than one broadcaster.
Was the Competition Commission of India (CCI) right in urging the ministry of corporate affairs to prevent TRAI from going ahead with its consultation papers on issues like cross-media ownership, cable monopoly and content aggregators? “The CCI comes ex post, not ex ante.
The rules of the game within the sector are set by the regulator.
So everybody knows that those ex ante rules are part of those regulations,” Khullar stated. So, does the CCI reaction reflect the outcome of a lobby? “Of course, I know it.
One particular group has gone to the CCI in the hope that they will get protection there. We will see what protection they get,” Khullar asserted.
In the interview, Khullar also spoke about cable monopoly, the agenda of the regulator over the next 3–4 months, the need for cross-media ownership and a whole host of other issues.
Content aggregators’ regulation this week, says TRAI chairman Rahul Khullar | TelevisionPost.com