The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released a new consultation paper to seek views on issues related to platform service channels offered by Direct-to-Home (DTH) service providers.

Platform services are programming channels offered by distribution platform operators (DPO) that are not obtained from broadcasters and are offered as value-added services to consumers. This also serves as an additional source of revenues for DPOs as they typically charge a subscription fee for these services, besides earning ad-revenues. In a statement, the regulator said that it received a reference from the Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry this July to give its recommendations on platform services with reference to DTH guidelines.

Annual fee

In the consultation paper, the regulator has sought views of the stakeholders on various issues such as the quantum of registration fee/annual fee that should be charged for each platform service channel offered by the distribution platform.

“The I&B Ministry, in the reference, has also sought recommendations on whether one-time registration fee can be considered for enhancement to ₹1 lakh per PS channel as against ₹1,000 per PS channel recommended earlier by the Authority,” TRAI said in a statement.

Other issues pertain to whether platform service channels should be available exclusively on a particular DTH service provider and the maximum number of platform services channels a DTH operator should be allowed to offer.

“Whether PS channels should be placed separately on EPG to distinguish them from regular TV channels? If yes, how these channels are to be placed?,” is among the other key queries on which the regulator has sought stakeholder views.

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