TRAI paper hints at concentration in cable TV market
November 24, 2021
Top 14 cable/DTH service providers have cornered 25% subscribers in an otherwise fragmented pay TV market, a consultation paper floated by the broadcasting and telecom regulator shows.
Hinting at a possible market concentration situation, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) consultation paper notes that the emergence of joint venture or subsidiary model in the past few years, and following large multi- service operators (MSOs) acquiring local cable operators and smaller MSOs, there have been instances of dominant MSOs misusing their market power.
The consultation paper has been released with the intention of safeguarding the interest of smaller players.
According to the TRAI paper, there are estimated 184 million TV households which are being served by the cable TV services, DTH services, HITS services, IPTV services in addition to a terrestrial TV network of Doordarshan.