The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has completed the process of pre-conversation for a broadcast policy and is now almost ready with a detailed consultation paper that will be released within the next few days, said Chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti.

Lahoti said this while speaking to Harit Nagpal, CEO of Tata Play, during a fireside chat at FICCI Frames 2024.

When asked about the broadcast policy, Lahoti shared that the first focus area is to encourage production of local content. "India has vast opportunities for producing content, and not only for the country, but for the world as a whole." TRAI plans to make India a global hub for content creation and content publishing, he shared.

"We also need to further strengthen the public service broadcasting. It is very important for a country like India to have a very strong public service broadcasting system for dissemination of information, knowledge, education and entertainment," he added.

The next thing that TRAI is focusing on is how to have growth across all verticals of the M&E sector. The regulator will also work on making the regulatory climate and the policy environment more business friendly and promote ease of doing business so that the sector grows, he said.

"Next thing is combating piracy. Piracy is a big concern and copyrights should be protected," he mentioned.

Another focus area in the broadcast policy will be expansion of the scope of terrestrial broadcasting and increasing the sample size of the audience measuring system . The system, which was devised a long time ago, uses a relatively small sample size currently. "With the advancement of technology, we now have the option to review body and audience metrics in order to obtain more scientific data. Advertisers and broadcasters can use this to properly monetize the content they create and show. In today's world, we'll also be discussing sustainable development. These are our primary emphasis areas, and we will shortly conduct in-depth consultations on them,” said the Chairman.

Speaking about dealing with hurdles and litigation from stakeholders on broadcast policy, the TRAI chairman said there are litigations because there are many stakeholders, all of whom have legitimate interests in protecting and promoting their businesses, which are frequently at odds.

He mentioned that stakeholders have various strategies for promoting their businesses, which leads to disputes and, eventually, litigation. “Our job as regulators is to reduce these disputes and litigations, and we always try to talk to them and help them understand one other's points of view. We work for what is optimal of the entire industry rather than the optimum of a single stakeholder,” he said. 

He went on to say that the industry must recognise that there are now competing technologies such as OTT. Instead of battling one another, the industry must consider how to compete with other technologies. “They can only compete with alternative technologies if they join forces and collaborate. So, I believe the industry needs to communicate, cooperate, and comprehend each other's points of view. They can surely form better coalitions to compete with other technology.” 

“I don't see hindrance as such from the industry but yes, in such a dynamic industry, we do expect challenges in managing them. Those challenges will come and we have a robust process of regulating the industry and I am sure we will be able to deal with it,” he concluded.