Bharti Airtel, a leading telecom operator in India, has asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to bring content aired through broadband under the regulatory fold. It is worth noting that the request from Airtel arrives at a time when Jio's dominance in distributing content through broadband has increased. JioCinema is offering users to watch IPL 2023 for free on its platform across devices, including TV, mobiles, laptops, and tablets. All that a user needs is a broadband connection. This will affect the businesses of many DTH (Direct-to-Home) operators. Currently, content delivery by DTH, MSO, IPTV, and HITS is under regulation by the government, but the same is not the case with the wireline and wireless broadband services.
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According to a report from TheHinduBusinessLine, Bharti Airtel has asked TRAI to bring broadcasting content through wireline and wireless broadband under regulation. Telecom service providers (TSPs) can gain access to exclusive content and distribution rights of broadcasting programmes and offer it to only their subscribers. Reliance Jio, the only operator with a broadcasting arm called Viacom18, could have only offered IPL 2023 to its subscribers, leaving Airtel and Vi subscribers the option to port to watch it on JioCinema.
Airtel wants TRAI to keep a check on discriminatory bundling tactics, which Jio has not yet applied. The report added that Reliance Jio said that it doesn't want the regulations to change at all. Jio doesn't find anything wrong with the way things are happening currently. The telco said that since the draft telecom bill 2022 is under recast, it is better to wait to make any changes until the time there is complete clarity achieved related to the telecom bill and its contents.
Jio's affordable Rs 198 broadband and prepaid plans are giving users access to the internet through which they can download and stream IPL 2023 on the JioCinema app. This is taking viewership away from the DTH operators.
