October 19, 2012/NEW DELHI: News broadcasters on Thursday said they were willing to pay a ‘reasonable’ carriage fees once digitization of cable services is introduced. Their willingness was indicated after a settlement was reached between broadcasters and cable operators at a meeting chaired by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chief Rahul Khullar last week.
‘Carriage fee’, which broadcasters pay to Multi System Operators(MSOs) and Local Cable Operators(LCOs) for taking their channels to viewers, has been a contentious issue which had pitted broadcasters on one side and MSOs and LCOs on the other. Broadcasters have now agreed to enter into agreements with MSOs for an initial period of one year for a fee (inclusive of marketing fees, tiering fees, packaging fees) ranging from 50 paisa to Re 1 per set top box subscriber per channel, per year.
Read more at The Times of India