The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Tuesday asked the Tamil Nadu Digital Cable TV Operators Association to withdraw the legal notice against the implementation of the new tariff framework and deferment of revised charges by Star India.

In a letter to the legal counsel for the Tamil Nadu-based cable TV operators group has said, “In light of the TRAI’s letter dated on November 10, 2021, M/S Star India Private Limited (broadcaster) has intimated about deferment of all changes made in its revised Reference Interconnect Offer (RIO) filed on October 15, 2022.”

The regulatory body also said, “As far as implementation of New Regulatory Framework 2020 is concerned, TRAI, on 10.11.2021, issued a letter to broadcasters & Distribution Platform Operators (DPO) on Implementation plan – New Regulatory Framework 2022” wherein all the broadcasters have been asked to report to the Authority, any change in name, nature, language, Maximum Retail Price (MRP) per month of channels, the composition of bouquets and MRP of bouquets of channels as per the New Regulatory Framework 2020 by December 31, 2021, and simultaneously publish such information on their websites.”

“The broadcasters who have already submitted their Reference Interconnect offers (RIOs) in compliance with of New Regulatory Framework may also revise their RIOs by December 31, 2021. As there is no permission/license is granted by MIB for OTT platforms at present, therefore, tariff orders issued by TRAI are not applicable to OTT platforms.”

The Association had filed the legal notice last year, after several TV channels revised their prices, in compliance with TRAI’s amended tariff order.

The regulatory body had later extended the timeline for implementation of the new order to April 1, 2022.