TRAI’s recommendation aims to boost growth, promote content, safeguard IP interests, and revamp audience measurement

Mumbai: TRAI’s recommendations for NBP 2024 envisages achieving several things including propelling growth, promoting content, making the country an uplinking hub for TV channels, protecting interests like IP and revamping the audience measurement system

Propelling Growth

• Establishing a robust broadcasting ecosystem by enabling growthoriented policies and regulations through data-driven governance.
• Supporting creation of a resilient, adaptive and tech-agile infrastructure fostering R&D, technology innovation and indigenous manufacturing.
• Facilitating level-playing field and healthy competition; promoting ease of doing business and stimulating economic growth by enabling the reach of broadcasting services to all, positioning India as an ‘Uplinking Hub’ for television channels, attracting investments, generating employment opportunities and promoting skill development.

Promoting Content

• Supporting quality content production and distribution for television, radio and OTT broadcasting services, encouraging proliferation of Indian content, both locally and globally, by harnessing the power of emerging broadcasting technologies and making India a ‘Global Content Hub’.
• Establishing India as a preferred destination for content creation.
• Enabling quality content production in public service broadcasting to inform, educate and entertain the masses.
• Promoting and facilitating the growth of Indian content through films, animation, visual effects, gaming, music and state-of-the-art post-production infrastructure.

Protecting Interests

• Combating piracy and safeguarding the rights of content creators and intellectual property holders through copyright protection. 
• Fulfilling social responsibilities by ensuring awareness and enabling provisions for disseminating information to all strata of the society; and environmental responsibilities through green broadcasting practices and disaster preparedness.

Goals And Strategies

1. Propelling Growth: Establishing a robust broadcasting ecosystem 

Goals

1. Measure sector’s performance based on various key economic parameters to enable data-driven policy decisions
2. Enable reach and access of television broadcasting services to uncovered households
3. Enable radio coverage in uncovered areas
4. Promote R&D and secure IPR in broadcasting sector
5. Promote manufacturing and adoption of new technologies including indigenous broadcasting technologies and equipment
6. Employment generation, bolstered up through training and upskilling for providing New Age Skills to the workforce
7. Encourage innovation-led startups and empower Small and Medium Enterprises.
8. Foster conducive policies and regulatory practices for economic growth
9. Make India an ‘Uplinking Hub’ of television channels
10. Leverage digital terrestrial broadcasting as a complimentary broadcasting technology
11. Establish effective audience measurement and rating system

Strategies

Measuring of economic parameters for a data-driven governance

1. Establishing an institutional framework to measure the contribution of broadcasting sector towards the economy of India. The parameters are to be measured in terms of gross output and value addition for direct economic contributions such as revenue generation, employment generation, subscription figures etc., as well as other indirect economic contributions. 
2. Carrying out measurements in collaboration with the National Statistical Office (NSO) under Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, industry associations, academic institutions and TRAI.
3. Developing online portals with centralised databases for data collection, aggregation, analysis and publishing using standardised methodologies and reporting formats in order to ensure consistency and comparability of data for all the stakeholders and the Government.

Provisioning of affordable television broadcasting services to uncovered households

1. Identifying districts and blocks with low-density television penetration. Creating an incentive scheme to enable Distribution Platform Operators (DPOs) to provide television sets and Consumer Premise Equipment (CPE) through bundled schemes in such areas.
2. Facilitating financial support to consumers for affording television sets and CPEs through microfinancing, Self Help Groups (SHGs) and staggered payment options. 
3. Devising a Skill Development plan for skilling local youth for operation and first line maintenance of TV sets, CPEs and network.
4. Leveraging fixed line broadband infrastructure including that created under BharatNet to extend the reach of television services in rural and low-density television areas.
5. Devising subsidized bundled schemes through the Public Service Broadcaster for provisioning of ‘DD Free Dish’ services including television set and CPE to the marginalised, tribal and economically weaker sections.
6. Encouraging DPOs to devise low-cost offerings, curate content for rural underpenetrated areas and identification, reactivation and reuse of inactive set-top boxes through appropriate incentive schemes.

Provisioning of radio coverage in uncovered areas

1. Establishing a comprehensive mapping system for identification of uncovered areas and expanding FM radio services by sharing infrastructure with other service providers including telecommunications service providers.
2. Facilitating a smooth transition from analog FM to digital radio broadcasting comprehensively encompassing resource allocation, infrastructure upgrades, phased transition plan, partnerships with technology providers, specialised training for industry professionals and supportive policies for radio broadcasters.
3. Reviewing the annual license fee structure of FM radio services for promoting the expansion of radio services.
4. Encouraging expansion of low power small range FM radio services in areas such as stadiums, open-air theatres, residential/ commercial complexes, convention centres, expo areas, etc. 

Focusing on research and development of broadcasting technologies and equipment, and facilitating quick adoption of latest technologies

1. Strengthening research and development in the broadcasting sector through:
2. Strengthening the existing R&D centres in public sector, such as C-DOT, BECIL and other such R&D institutions to support local manufacturing of broadcasting equipment and enable research on emerging technologies.
3. Creating an environment for experimentation and innovations in the space of broadcasting technology to shift India from being a ‘Technology Adopter’ to ‘Technology Innovator’. iii. Encouraging cloud-based storage of content to enable locationfree access and transmission of programmes for broadcasting.
4. Creating a ‘Technology Development Fund’ for supporting R&D and startups in the field of emerging technologies and development of indigenous products for import substitution and promoting export in broadcasting sector.
5. Establishing ‘Centre of Excellence for Broadcasting’ at premier technological institutes and industry associations focussing on research, standardisation, development and testing of emerging broadcasting technologies and products with collaborative efforts of MIB, BECIL, C-DOT, BIS, academia, startups and concerned industry stakeholders.
6. Formulating guidelines for ‘Transfer of Technology’ for the products developed through domestic R&D units for different stakeholders in manufacturing and distribution value chain.
7. Formation of a ‘Standing Empowered Committee’ for monitoring R&D activities, standardization and indigenisation in broadcasting sector.
8. Facilitating the availability of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (FRAND) terms required for promoting local manufacturing.
9. Creating an enabling framework including Regulatory Sandbox for testing and quick adoption of emerging technologies in live environment. Facilitating demonstration of and experimentation with latest technologies, products, services and applications in broadcasting sector for understanding the opportunities and challenges involved therein.

Promoting manufacturing and adoption of new technologies including indigenous broadcasting technologies and equipment

1. Mandating public service broadcaster to procure and deploy indigenous broadcasting technologies and equipment in certain proportion.
2. Incentivising DPOs for procurement and deployment of indigenous broadcasting systems and equipment including Conditional Access System (CAS), Subscriber Management System (SMS), Set Top Box (STB) through incentive schemes.
3. Incentivising indigenous development and adoption of digital radio systems including receivers.
4. Enabling the development of the STB manufacturing ecosystem for adoption of interoperable STBs by public service broadcaster and DPOs to empower consumer choice and reduce e-waste. Procurement by public service broadcaster can act as catalyst for indigenisation of STBs and CAS.
5. Incentivising Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) developing core electronics components, through Production Linked Incentives (PLI) schemes, to setup their manufacturing base in India, making

India ‘Global Manufacturing Hub’ targeted for broadcasting sector in consonance with the goals of the National Policy on Electronics

Making India an ‘Uplinking Hub’ by facilitating television channels to uplink using Indian uplinking facilities

1. Enabling development of state-of-the-art robust uplinking infrastructure and competitive environment to encourage Indian and foreign television channels to uplink from India.
2. Establishing a single window clearance mechanism for licensing approvals, expediting processing of applications and reducing administrative burden for uplinking of foreign broadcasters’ channels from India.
3. Encouraging collaboration between foreign companies and Indian partners through bilateral agreements to promote cross-border broadcasting activities and cooperation.

Leveraging and expanding digital terrestrial broadcasting for television and radio

1. Exploring the use and expansion of digital terrestrial broadcasting to television and mobile devices as a complimentary broadcasting technology to co-exist with cable and satellite broadcasting.
2. Notifying the policy framework for digital radio broadcasting in a time bound manner with a clear roadmap for rollout.
3. Enabling the delivery of digital TV content on mobile devices utilising digital terrestrial broadcasting technologies such as 5G broadcasting (using features like network slicing) and D2M (Directto-Mobile) technology.
4. Opening digital terrestrial television and digital radio broadcasting service including news on radio to the private sector to infuse investment required for developing and maintaining infrastructure in a phased manner.
5. Leveraging digital terrestrial broadcasting for uninterrupted services during emergencies and natural disasters for public safety through television, radio and mobile and identifying futuristic use cases.
6. Ensuring effective utilization of spectrum allocated for terrestrial broadcasting and earmarking globally harmonised spectrum for Programme Making and Special Events (PMSE) covering radio microphones, in-ear monitors, wireless cameras, talkback systems, etc.

Transparent and credible audience measurement and rating system for television, radio and OTT broadcasting service

1. Establishing transparent, credible and technologically equipped television audience measurement system that accurately reflects viewer preferences and behaviour by:
2. Revamping the existing audience measurement system in India
3. Expanding the sample size to represent diverse landscape

iii. Encouraging multiple rating agencies to carry out audience measurement for ensuring healthy competition

1. Adopting Return Path Data (RPD) and other latest technologies to enhance the accuracy of data
2. Establishing a policy framework for conducting radio audience measurement in India.
3. Creating a framework for disclosure of viewership data by OTT broadcasting service providers in a transparent manner for the purpose of audience measurements.