On 3rd March 2017, the TRAI issued a new tariff order for regulating the pricing of channels of the broadcasting sector. The key objective of this order was to empower the consumer to choose TV channels on a la carte basis than on the basis of a bouquet basis. The whole purpose of this regulation was to make the market of the broadcasting sector more functional, thereby preventing the distributors from pushing poor quality TV channels bundled into a heavily discounted bouquet. As per TRAI, the regulation was designed to enable free consumer choice in demanding better quality channels, thereby preventing the network capacity from being clogged by useless channels. The purpose of this note is to analyse whether that objective has been fulfiled.
Setback to TRAI
The set back to the TRAI’s regulation was the SC’s order at the beginning of this year wherein the TRAI’s order on maximum discount allowed on the bouquet (15% of the MRP of individual channels) was withdrawn. Hence, this enabled the broadcasters and distributors to continue to offer heavily discounted bouquets.
