Trai consultation paper on DTN platform services lists four key concerns

The telecom regulator released a consultation paper regarding services offered by distribution platform owners (DPOs), expressing a range of concerns raised by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting through a letter it wrote in July. Platform services (PS) channels are those that are provided by local cable operators or direct-to-home (DTH) operators exclusively to their subscribers such as Tata Sky Active or Tata Sky World Screen.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has asked for comments on revision of the registration fee for PS channels. At present, broadcasters pay a processing fee of Rs 10,000 for registration of a channel in addition to a fee of Rs 5 lakh per annum for the licence, and another Rs 5 lakh per year in the form of permission fee (to downlink channels). For channels not transmitted (uplinked) from India, a broadcaster is supposed to pay Rs 10 lakh per annum.