Section 5 in Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable Services) Interconnection (Digital Addressable Cable Television Systems) Regulations, 2012
5. General Provisions relating to interconnection agreements.
(1)A multi system operator may enter into an agreement with the broadcaster in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Reference Interconnect Offer published by the broadcaster on such nondiscriminatory terms and conditions.(2)Every broadcaster shall, who publishes revised Reference Interconnect Offer after the commencement of these regulations, give an option to all multi system operators to enter into an agreement in accordance with the revised Reference Interconnect Offer and it shall be open to the multi system operator to enter into fresh agreement or continue with the existing agreement.(3)Every broadcaster shall, within a period of thirty days from the date of receipt of request from the multi system operator, enter into an interconnection agreement or modify the existing interconnect agreement in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Reference Interconnect Offer published under these regulations or as may be mutually agreed.(4)Every broadcaster shall offer all its channels to the multi system operator on a-la-carte basis :Provided that the broadcaster may, in addition to offering all its channels on a-la-carte basis, offer its channels in the form of bouquet.(5)No broadcaster shall compel any multi system operator to include its channels or bouquet of channels in any package or scheme offered by the multi system operator to its subscribers.(6)It shall be mandatory for the broadcasters of pay channels to reduce the terms and conditions of the interconnection agreements into writing.(7)No broadcaster of pay channels shall make available signals of TV channels to any multi system operator without entering into a written interconnection agreement.(8)Nothing contained in regulations (6) or (7) shall apply to any supply of signals or continuance of supply of signals of TV channels by a broadcaster in pursuance of or in compliance with any order or direction or judgment of any court or tribunal, including any order or direction or judgment of any court or tribunal on any proceeding pending before such court or tribunal.(9)It shall be the responsibility of every broadcaster of pay channels who enters into an interconnection agreement with a multi system operator to hand over a copy of signed interconnection agreement to such multi system operator and obtain an acknowledgement in this regard within a period of 15 days from the date of execution of the agreement.(10)In case a broadcaster wants to modify its interconnection agreement entered into with a multi system operator, it shall give a notice of thirty days to the multi system operator and any modification in such agreement may be made as per the terms and conditions of the Reference Interconnect Offer published by the broadcaster under these regulations or as may be mutually agreed.(11)In case the broadcaster and the multi system operator fail to enter into an interconnection agreement, such broadcaster or multi system operator, without prejudice to the provision of section 14 A of the Act or any other law for time being in force , at any time, may make a request to the Authority to facilitate the process of entering into such agreement and the Authority may issue such directions to the broadcaster and the multi-system operator as it may deem fit.(12)Nothing contained in sub-regulation (11) shall apply to any matter or issue pending adjudication before any court or tribunal or in respect of which a decree, award or an order has been passed by a court or tribunal.(13)The interconnection agreement between the multi system operator and its linked local cable operator shall have the details of various services rendered by the local cable operator to the multi system operator and the charges to be paid by the multi system operator to the local cable operator for these services.(14)The interconnection agreement between the multi system operator and its linked local cable operator shall clearly earmark the responsibility of generation of subscribers' bill by the multi system operator and the roles and responsibilities of the multi system operator and its linked local cable operator on conformance to the quality of service regulations issued by the Authority from time to time.(15)It shall be open to a multi system operator to decide the packaging of the channels offered to the subscribers from bouquet of channels provided to it by the broadcaster :Provided that in case the multi system operator does not offer to a subscriber the entire bouquet of channels provided to it by the broadcaster but only certain channels of such bouquet or packages the channels of such bouquet in a manner resulting in different subscriber base for different channels of such bouquet, the payment to the broadcaster for such bouquet shall be calculated on the basis of the subscriber base for that channel of the bouquet which has highest subscriber base.(16)Every service provider shall enter into a new agreement before the expiry of the existing agreement and in case the service provider fails to enter into the new agreement before the expiry of the said agreement, the provisions of the existing agreement shall continue to apply till the new agreement is entered into between the service providers or for the next three months from the date of expiry of existing agreement, whichever is earlier and if the service providers are able to enter into an agreement before the expiry of the said three months, the new agreement shall apply from the date of expiry of earlier agreement:Provided that if service providers are not able to enter into a new agreement, they may be entitled to disconnect the signals of TV Channels by giving three weeks notice published in two local newspapers, out of which one shall be published in the newspaper of the regional language of the area for which the said agreement is applicable.(17)It shall be mandatory for the multi system operator to reduce the terms and conditions of the interconnection agreements into writing.(18)No multi system operator, shall make available signals of TV channels to any linked local cable operator without entering into a written interconnection agreement.(19)Nothing contained in regulations (l7) or (18) shall apply to any supply of signals or continuance of supply of signals of TV channels by a multi system operator in pursuance of or in compliance with any order or direction or judgment of any court or tribunal, including any order or direction or judgment of any court or tribunal on any proceeding pending before such court or tribunal.(20)It shall be the responsibility of every multi system operator to hand over a copy of signed interconnection agreement who enters into an interconnection agreement with a linked local cable operator/s to hand over a copy of signed interconnection agreement to such cable operator and obtain an acknowledgement in this regard within a period of 15 days from the date of execution of the agreement.(21)No service provider shall demand from any other service provider a minimum guaranteed amount as subscription fee for the channels provided by such service provider.Chapter - V Disconnection of Signals of TV Channels
