The new tariff order (NTO) 2.0 adjustments made by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) in November 2022 are being contested by the All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF) before the Kerala High Court. On Friday, there will be a hearing on the subject.
The Federation, which represents all multi system operators (MSOs), has asked the HC to reject changes made to NTO 2.0 that were released on November 22 and to compel the Trai to maintain the status quo until the Federation’s case is resolved.
It has also prayed before the court to issue a direction to Trai to examine and fix the MRP for TV channels based on genre and with a maximum cap on price of any channel in order to ensure the orderly growth of the digital cable television sector.The broadcast sector regulator had amended the NTO 2.0 by reinstating the old MRP cap of ₹19 besides doing away with ‘twin conditions’ in its new amended tariff order issued on November 22.
The amended tariff order also mandated that a broadcaster can offer a maximum discount of 45% on pay channel bouquets over the sum of MRPs of all the pay channels in that bouquet.
The AIDCF contended that there is no basis to increase the price cap to ₹19 when the previous price cap of ₹12 was upheld by the Bombay High Court.
