Aimed at protecting the interests of consumers in the non-conditional access system (CAS) areas of the country, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has amended some of the provisions of the existing tariff order for cable services in non-CAS areas. Now, the minimum monthly cable rent is fixed at Rs 77. It will now be obligatory for cable operators to provide a package of thirty free-to-air channels at Rs 77 per month. However, for thirty free-to-air channels and over 45 pay channels, the regulator has also imposed a ceiling of Rs 260 per month. In the prevailing scenario, depending on the number of channels provided and the class of a city, the monthly cable bill varies from Rs 50 to Rs 400.

This Amendment Order will take effect from December 1, 2007, and will be applicable to non-addressable cable TV services throughout the country, except those areas that have been notified for implementation of CAS. It needs to be remembered that these are maximum rates (excluding taxes) beyond which cable operators cannot charge the consumer. To empower the consumer, the amendment has also made it mandatory for operators to provide consumers with necessary bills and receipts with required details.

The formulation in respect of commercial subscribers is essentially the same, and not modified in this amendment order. Thus, there will be forbearance in tariff in respect of 3-star hotels and above, and for commercial establishments having more than 50 rooms.

On the broadcaster's front, they must provide all their channels on a la carte basis and declare a la carte rate to the multi system operators (MSOs)/cable operators. Bouquets of channels can also be offered. But, to prevent a perverse pricing of bouquets and to make the a-la-carte choice effective, it has been provided that the bouquet rates and the la carte rates of channels forming part of a bouquet should not exceed 1.5 times the bouquet rate and a la carte rate of each channel cannot be more than three times the average rate of the pay channel in the bouquet. The above measure is expected to enable the MSOs/cable operators to choose channels in tune with the liking of their subscribers, and consequently, to reduce the burden of cable charges on subscribers on the account of unwanted channels. Also, the rates of bouquets and stand-alone channels cannot be increased by more than 4% by the broadcaster. Keeping in mind the problems that broadcasters might face, appropriate provisions have been made to address situations such as non-availability of a channel for distribution due to termination of contractual obligations, conversion of a pay channel to FTA or vice versa.

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