Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti on Thursday (May 1, 2025) said it was not in favour of creating an environment where regulatory disparities put one medium of broadcasting at a disadvantage over another.
Mr. Lahoti’s remark came days after the Supreme Court sought responses from the Centre and others concerned on a plea seeking a ban on the streaming of sexually explicit content on OTT and social media platforms.
He said: “…the issues which are coming forward now are the regulatory disparities between one medium of dissemination and another. While we do welcome and want technology to come up and provide better and better audio-video experience so that the consumer can enjoy the fruits of the development of the technology, yet we do not want to create an environment where regulation discriminates between two mediums and puts one medium of broadcasting at a disadvantage compared to another; or one medium at a relatively undue advantage compared to another medium.”
Speaking to The Hindu on the sidelines of a panel discussion on ‘Regulating Broadcast in the Digital Age: Key Frameworks & Challenges’ as part of the WAVES 2025, organised by the Information & Broadcasting Ministry, Mr. Lahoti said India has a very progressive regulatory framework so far as the traditional broadcasting was concerned. It was being regularly revised and updated to give the industry the requisite freedom, and also to protect the interest of consumers and small players in the entire value chain, he said.
“TRAI as a regulator has been regularly engaging with the stakeholders to see the need for review and has been updating it regularly,” he said, adding that it issued a revised regulation last year, one that was welcomed by the entire broadcasting distribution industry.
Another significant work done by TRAI in this regard was a complete revamp of the licensing framework for both the television and the radio broadcasting industries, where — in the context of the new Telecommunications Act — it reviewed the framework of the past 30 years and prepared a simplified authorisation structure, enabling ease of doing business. The different terms and conditions of various mediums were harmonised. The entire regulation was made “more or less technology agnostic”, and yet it gave a lot of freedom to the industry for infrastructure sharing etc., he said.
“However, now the challenge is that we have the digital video distribution services, which may be OTT streaming services or FAST (free ad-supported streaming television) etc., which are currently being regulated under the social media intermediary guidelines of MeitY, whereas the traditional broadcasting or the linear TV is regulated under the Telecommunications Act and the Cable TV Networks Act,” he said.
“Also, we have to see whether we are doing enough to protect the interests of consumers and also the interconnection between different stakeholders. In the case of the traditional TV, we have guardrails and the regulations to guide how they can interact and how they cannot exploit their dominant position, whether the same checks are available in the digital streaming services: these are the issues which would going forward need examination and would need certain actions,” he said.
During the panel discussion, Mr. Lahoti said a recent industry study showed that digital media surpassed linear television in 2024 in terms of the industry segment, and in India, digital media stood at nearly $9.4 billion as against $8 billion of linear television.
Going forward, there should be minimal regulation covering the industry, but it should be adequate to protect the interests of the consumers and those at the lower end of the pyramid, he added.
Published – May 01, 2025 08:08 pm IST
