TRAI pulls up Dish TV India; seeks compliance with new regulatory norms

Telecom regulator TRAI has directed Dish TV India to comply with the provisions of the new framework for broadcasting and cable TV services, acting on consumer complaints pertaining to the operators’ specific offering and grievance redressal helpline. TRAI, which has promised strict action against those cable TV and direct-to-home (DTH) players who are found violating its new tariff order and regulatory regime, had earlier this week also pulled up Bharti Telemedia on similar grounds.

As per complaints, the DTH operator “is forcefully offering a bouquet of free-to-air channels with no choice to subscribers and without their consent”, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), which is also the broadcast regulator, said in a directive on its website. “This is in addition to the channels opted by the subscribers and the following message is being displayed: This is a free to air bouquet at no extra charge. If you have selected any pay channel, then this bouquet will not impact your NCF (network capacity fee),” TRAI said.