In a consultation paper released in April, Trai sought stakeholder comments on how application-based linear television distribution (ALTD) services and Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television (FAST) platforms should be defined and regulated. The regulator coined the term ALTD as a broader category for apps and websites that stream scheduled television channels over the internet, with FAST services forming one subset of such offerings.
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The regulator said such services, commonly available through smart TV interfaces and streaming apps, increasingly resemble traditional television distribution and sought stakeholder views on whether issues such as regulatory parity, content accountability and consumer protection warrant a formal framework.
FAST services typically offer free television channels supported by advertising and are increasingly available through smart TVs and streaming apps.
In counter comments to Trai, the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) warned that definitions broad enough to include any platform distributing curated audio-visual content online could potentially bring every OTT platform, social media video service and news website with video content under a broadcast-style licensing framework. “Regulating them as telecommunications or broadcasting service providers would have no legal foundation and would open the door to regulating every website and application as a broadcast service,” IAMAI said.
Also Read: Voda Idea launches silent mobile verification for its subscribers using Meta platformsIAMAI, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) and broadcaster JioStar argued that such services are already governed under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, which regulate OTT platforms and digital news publishers. Subjecting them to a broadcast-style framework administered by Trai would amount to overlapping regulation, they argued.
In 2023, minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that OTT services continue to be governed under the Information Technology Act, 2000, and are not covered under the telecom law passed by Parliament. PHDCCI said internet streaming and television broadcasting are structurally different. Traditional television is distributed through cable TV, DTH, HITS and IPTV platforms using licensed infrastructure and spectrum, while OTT content is delivered over the open internet.