Consumers an Integral Part of the Digitization Process – Shri Manish Tewari

TRP Guidelines to Establish Transparency

 I&B Minister Addresses 5th CEO’S Roundtable Organised by CII

Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Shri Manish Tewari has said the digitization process during Phase-III and IV would have to focus on the interest of the consumers in order to ensure that they were partners in the process rather than adversaries. For this purpose, the industry would have to run a focussed consumer awareness campaign, whereby the consumer would have to be sensitized about the benefits accruing from this process. The Minister stated this while speaking at 5th CEO’s Round Table organised by CII here today. 

Elaborating further, Shri Tewari stated that the campaign would have to focus on improved quality of viewing and related qualitative benefits accruing to the consumer as a result of the implementation process. The learnings of the implementation during Phase-I and Phase-II would also have to be taken into account while outlining the implementation roadmap for the remaining phases. For digitization to succeed, the industry would have to make efforts to ensure that the consumer was an integral component in the digitization value chain. At the same time, the comprehensive approach would also ensure the emergence of viable business model for the industry. 

On the issue of Television Rating Points (TRPs) the Minister said that this initiative was an attempt to make the process transparent, credible and accountable. At the same time, the endeavor was to address aberrations in the existing rating system. The Minister added that this initiative was based on the past recommendations of the Standing Committee, TRAI, and Dr. Amit Mitra Committee. The Government had also been approached in the past by the industry stakeholders to rectify the existing flaws. The long term objective was an attempt to usher a system with defined rules within an existing framework. 

On the issue of monopolies in the Cable TV sector, Shri Tewari said that regulator had already made its recommendation and the issues involved were being examined by the Inter Ministerial Committee (IMC). The Minister also mentioned that for the broadcasting sector to grow the regulatory framework ought to be stable and transparent for all stakeholders. This would ensure orderly growth for the sector in the long run. 

Courtesy: Press Information Bureau (pib.nic.in)