Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Wednesday released its recommendations for a new DTH licensing regime. The issue of cross-holding/control in the broadcasting and distribution sectors has also been covered in these recommendations.
Under the new recommendation, the period of DTH licence would be increased from 10 years to 20 years, renewable by 10 years at a time.
The one time entry fee has been retained at Rs 10 crore. The DTH licensees will be mandated to comply with the tariff order/scheme prescribed by TRAI for commercial inter-operability.
TRAI said that the policy on cross-holding/control will be restructured to bring in uniformity in the broadcasting and distribution sector.
TRAI said that the existing restrictions, in respect of the cross-holdings between Broadcasters and DPOs and amongst DPOs have been prescribed in the DTH and the HITS guidelines. The existing Cable TV Rules and Uplinking/ Downlinking Guidelines for Broadcasters do not provide for any restrictions on cross-holding.
The recommendations have been released in response to the reference made by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to the Authority.
