Television Tariff Deadline extended to January 31, 2019

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has on Thursday announced the extension of migration deadline to the new tariff plan. As per the new deadline, consumers have time till January 31, 2019 to select channels of their choice under the new tariff order for broadcasting and cable services. Customers can enjoy uninterrupted services on existing packs till then.

The telecom regulator, in March, 2017, had notified the new regulatory framework for Broadcasting and Cable services, the implementation of which was stalled due to legal hurdles. The framework was re-notified on July 3, 2018, prescribing the implementation schedule with migration deadline as December 29, 2018 to start services under new regime.

TRAI Tariff Deadline extended to January 31, 2019:

• All existing packs/plans/bouquets to the subscribers will continue uninterrupted till 31st January 2019.
• No service provider to disconnect any signal/feed to any MSO/LCO/subscriber till 31st January 2019, on the pretext of implementation of new regulatory framework.
•  Inter-service provider commercial settlement to continue as per their inter-se agreements in-force prior to zs” December 2018 till 31stJanuary 2019.
• DPOs to devise their own mechanism to reach out to all the subscribers and seek options from subscribers. Data pertaining to consumers’ choice etc. should bemaintained in such a manner that it is easily verifiable, and should be reported to TRAI from time to time.
• DPOs to migrate all the subscribers, who have exercised their choices, to new framework w.e.f. l ” February 2019.
• DPOs to adhere to following schedule for reaching out to the consumers:

As per the re-notified tariff order all the service providers were required to complete the preparation for migration to new framework by December 28, 2018. In order to facilitate smooth transition from old to new tariff regime without causing inconvenience, the telecom regulator held consultations with broadcasters, DTH operators, and MSOs (multi-system operators) and has given network operators more time to seek options from customers.

“In order to have a smooth implementation of the new regulatory framework that will come into effect Saturday, TRAI held a series of meetings and consultations with all the stakeholders including Consumers Advocacy Groups (CAG) during last 4-6 weeks“, TRAI said in a press statement. As per discussions, Distribution platform operators (DPOs) shall devise their own mechanism to reach out to all the customers and seek options from them. The framework shall come into force as decided earlier but DPOs need to migrate all the subscribers to new framework by February 1, 2019.

“Subsequently, the Authority (TRAI) also held meetings on December 19 and December 27 with various service providers of the broadcasting and cable services sector. The preparedness for migration of all subscribers from old to new framework was also assessed,” TRAI said in the press release.