Regulating Satellite TV

Why in news?

Government is reviewing the process of granting permission to satellite television companies for uplinking and downlinking channels.

What is up-linking and downlinking?

• In satellite telecommunication, a downlink is the link from a satellite down to one or more ground stations or receivers.
• An uplink is the link from a ground station up to a satellite.
• For creating such links different radioactive frequencies are used, the C band is the most frequently used.
• The Ka and Ku bands are reserved exclusively for satellite communication.
• These frequencies will be somewhere around 3700 MHz - 31 GHz.
• Some companies sell uplink and downlink services to television stations, corporations, and to other telecommunication carriers.

What is the plan on satellite television communication?

• Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has floated a consultation paper on issues related to up-linking and downlinking of TV channels in India.
• TRAI is reviewing provisions of the guidelines that came into effect six years ago in December 2011.
• One of the central questions being examined is whether satellite TV channels should be auctioned by the government.
• While auction of any natural resource, in this case, spectrum or airwaves used to broadcast satellite TV channels, holds merit for reasons of transparency as well as for higher revenues.

What are the challenges involved?

• The television Industry is very large as there are close to 900 permitted satellite TV channels, along with seven direct-to-home (DTH) operators, and a large number of cable TV operators.
• There are technical issues that need to be settled before the sector can undergo any radical change.
• Due to low entry barriers, non-serious players have been able to obtain TV broadcasting licences, such licences are even traded or leased to different entities later.
• The government is also expecting higher revenues from a fast-growing TV satellite broadcasting sector, especially when the rules are much more stringent for DTH.
• Auctions could help right market price for a channel, but this is likely to happen at the risk of discouraging local and regional players.

How the issues can be addressed?

• TRAI must examine the feasibility of one-time entry fee for all TV channels, apart from arriving at a revenue-sharing model with the government.
• That will check the entry of non-serious players into the broadcasting space while being a source of meaningful revenue for the government.
• Satellite TV channel should not be regulated in isolation but in sync with the overall technological and business models prevalent in the telecom and broadcasting space.

Source: Business Standard