TRAI recommends licensing regime for cable operators, MSOs

[alpeshpatelk]

New Delhi (PTI): TRAI on Tuesday recommended that the Cable TV industry and the Multi-system operators (MSO) should be brought under licensing, a move aimed at restructuring the fragmented industry.

Under the proposed licence regime, the regulator suggests imposition of an entry fee of Rs 10,000-Rs 1 lakh along with cess on the cable operators.

"No person shall operate a cable television network unless he is licensed as a cable operator, said TRAI in the draft recommendations on 'Restructuring of Cable TV Sector'."

An entry fee of Rs 10,000 has been recommended for district level Cable TV licence, while the same is Rs 1 Lakh for a state cable TV service licence. A 10 per cent administrative cess to meet the contingency needs of the Department of Posts for maintenance of records of Cable TV operators have also been proposed by the telecom regulator.

The licence would be valid for five years.

The regulator has also recommended a separate licensing provision for Multi-system Operators(MSOs), who it says should be introduced as an entity separate from Cable TV operators.

At present MSOs are registered as cable TV operator though their operations and business model are different.

The MSO's main function is to aggregate content from different broadcasters and to provide it to the Local Cable Operators LCOs. Therefore, the regulatory framework for the MSOs should be different from LCOs.

The entry fee for district level MSO licence shall be Rs one lakh and net worth Rs 5 lakh. The entry fee for state level MSO licence has been proposed at Rs 10 lakhs and net worth at Rs 10 lakhs.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002...151551.htm