Bombay HC upholds January 2020 tariff plan by TRAI, allows inclusion of premium channels in bouquet

The Bombay high court (HC) on Wednesday upheld the Constitutional validity of the new tariff order (NTO) announced by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in January 2020, giving a setback to broadcasters who had challenged the NTO on the grounds that it was arbitrary

The Bombay high court (HC) on Wednesday upheld the Constitutional validity of the new tariff order (NTO) announced by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in January 2020, giving a setback to broadcasters who had challenged the NTO on the grounds that it was arbitrary. The court, however, struck down the NTO condition which restrained broadcasters from including premium channels — rates of which exceeded three times the rate of the average channels — being offered in the bouquet and held that it was unconstitutional.

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TRAI said it would continue its August 2020 statement of no coercive action against non-compliance by broadcasters for another six weeks.

The division bench headed by justice AA Sayed, which had heard and reserved its judgement on the petitions by various broadcasters on October 20, 2020, while pronouncing the judgement on Wednesday said the petitions challenging the 2020 regulation and tariff order by TRAI had failed, barring the challenge regarding inclusion of premium channels, rates of which are more than three times the cost of an average channel, in the bouquet.

The petitions filed by Film and Television Producers Guild of India, Indian Broadcasting Foundation and TV broadcasters including Sony Pictures, Zee Entertainment, Star India, Disney, TV18, Asianet Communications among others before the HC last year had challenged the new tariff rules as well as conditions to be complied with while offering the bouquet of channels announced by TRAI in January 2020.

The petitions had contended that as per the new amended tariff order (NTO 2.0), which reduced the channel prices from ₹19 to ₹12 and permitted broadcaster to offer only those channels which had maximum retail price of ₹12 or less in bouquet, was unconstitutional and arbitrary and hence should be set aside. NTO 2.0 had amended the 2017 tariff order pertaining to fixing and limiting prices of channels offered by various broadcasters and included new conditions in the interest of viewers.

The petitions also claimed the reduction in the Network Capacity Fee (NCF), which was brought down to ₹130 by TRAI, as unreasonable.

On Wednesday, the bench, while granting partial relief to broadcasters, set aside their other prayers including challenging constitutional validity of section 11 of TRAI Act, which enumerates functions and authority of the telecom regulator over broadcasters.

After the order was pronounced, the broadcasters who challenged the TRAI decision sought a stay on implementation of the judgement so that they could approach the Supreme Court, which the bench allowed. Detailed judgement is expected to be uploaded on the HC website in due course.