Livemint reported that India’s pay-TV industry is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.2% to hit $14.5 billion in revenue by 2021 compared to a projected $ 9.4 billion in 2016. By 2025, 70% of India’s pay-TV base is estimated to be digitised, growing from 93 million subscribers to 129 million from 2016 to 2025 in light of the digital addressable system (DAS) being implemented by the government.

 

According to the Information & Broadcasting Ministry, nearly 41 million set-top boxes have been seeded in Phase 3 areas and Phase 4 digitisation is due in December 2016. The government has completed Phase 3 of digitisation barring few states which have demanded extension in the deadline.

 

Pay-TV Policies

Copyright Protection

Many local agencies are not well educated on copyright matters, leading to relaxed enforcement on copyright infringement, even though the domestic copyright laws on signal piracy are good. Thanks to the cable digitisation programme, the government hopes to eradicate commercial fraud and under declaration. Online piracy is still very difficult to control. Regulation of OTT The local OTT-TV services are required to follow the same content code as cable TV networks but application to offshore OTT providers has not been tested. The Advertising Standards Council of India, a self-regulatory body, seeks to regulate advertisements in any media, including online media.