TV Channels Revolt Against TRAI Over Cheap Cable Plans; Claim It Will Destroy Jobs, Content Industry

TRAI has recently announced that the prices of the TV channels be scaled down considerably, to bring down your cable bill by 14%. It sure served as a huge relief to us customers, but the broadcasters aren’t too happy about this. 

Many of the leading broadcasters of the country have come together and unanimously rejected the order issued by TRAI citing various issues, such as a hindrance in content creation, jobs, etc. They are also in the process of moving the court against the cap enforced by TRAI.

Find out all the details about the trouble TRAI has attracted right here!

Broadcasters Reject TRAI’s Order To Cap Prices; Says It Will Affect Jobs, Growth

At the beginning of the new year, The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) announced the scaling down of the prices of the channels, wherein, the prices of the channels were brought down by as much as 57%.  

Top broadcasters of India have come together and rejected the new tariff introduced by TRAI. They have cited the reason behind their objection as a severe effect on content creation, jobs and slows down their growth. 

N. P. Singh, the IBF president and the head of Sony Pictures Networks India said, “We want a stable and consistent regulatory regime for us to strategise better.” 

The group of broadcasters, Indian Broadcasting Federation (IBF) said that TRAI’s decision of decreasing the rates is micro-regulation and will put the future of the industry in ‘jeopardy’.

Broadcasters To Approach The Court Against TRAI

All the broadcasters have decided to approach the court in the next week, and ask to put a stay on the decision. They will be moving the court individiually and as a group (IBF) too. 

A top executive from one of the broadcasters confirmed this, saying, “We are definitely evaluating legal options and plan to move court on the matter. In that case, there are no plans to come out with new channel prices in accordance with the amendments to the tariff order at this moment.”

The chairman of Star and Disney in India, Uday Shankar, has opined that there was no need for launching more than two tariff changes in less than a year. 

The ball will soon be the Court now, and lets see what the ruling is! We’ll keep you informed as we get more updates.