The All Local Cable Operators Association (Alcoa), a representative body of LCOs, has equated regulator TRAI’s new tariff regime to a ‘black law’, demanding its review and non-implementation, while dropping broad hints that the regulator’s zeal could be misplaced a bit.

“It seems that TRAI is forcibly imposing tariff orders on the cable industry only to reduce the rights of the consumers and increase the revenue of the broadcaster,” Alcoa said in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The letter further added: “We want to draw your kind attention towards the wrongly made Regulation on Cable TV, namely New Tariff Order 2.0, which TRAI is going to implement… on 1st January 2022. This will lead to unemployment of lakhs of families connected with the Cable TV industry.”

Bandying the economic angle of the tariff regulations, mainly aimed at getting the TV channels at an affordable price to consumers, the trade body said that if the new rules were implemented according to the schedule laid down by TRAI, it would lead to chaos in the industry and heavy financial losses to the cable operators and MSOs.

Alcoa’s stand on NTO 2.0 comes close on the heels of another industry body, Cable Operators United Front (COUF), making similar claims last week, while urging the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to ‘stop implementation’ of the tariff regime and revisit the regulations altogether, including exploring putting a uniform price caps on all TV channels.

“There is a possibility of huge loss in the cable TV industry.

And also the sword of unemployment and starvation will hang over several lakhs of people, due to which the cable TV operators all over the country will go out of business,” the Alcoa letter highlighted.

It went on to ad that the first tariff order of TRAI impacted the industry in a negative way and did not favour either the consumers or the country’s LCOs.

“Watching cable TV is not only expensive, but many consumers today are…without entertainment, without cable TV, for which full credit goes to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India and TRAI. TRAI took care of only the interests of broadcaster(s) and their revenue,” Alcoa accused.

“Now the consumer will not co-operate with us on the price hike, but will boycott us,” Alcoa said in its letter, pleading that with several other options before the consumers, LCOs would face the brunt of the regulations unless NTO 2.0’s implementation is not stopped altogether.