( 2 May 2012 10:57 am)

NEW DELHI: The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) has expressed its shock and dismay at the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's tariff order for digital addressable systems as it has legitimised carriage fee that has deeply hurt their profitability.

NBA has that the Notification has 'legitimized' the very practice the NBA had hoped would be ended - the payment of steep "carriage fees" by broadcasters.

It noted that the primary purpose of digitisation was to increase the number of channels that can be broadcast. The objective was to give consumers greater choice and to eliminate the phenomenon of "carriage fees", which were being charged due to capacity constraints.

However, the NBA was distressed and disappointed that Trai's new Notification had actually legalised the practice of "carriage fees" and given distributors the freedom to unilaterally set the amount of "carriage fees" broadcasters must pay.

"This unfairly penalises broadcasters and threatens the very survival of the broadcasting industry," NBA said, urging the government and Trai to look into this malaise and correct it urgently.

News broadcasters will be meeting the I&B ministry and Trai to express their grievances.