The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995

(1) This Act may be called the Cable TelevisionNetworks (Regulation) Act, 1995. (2) It extends to the whole of India. (3) It shall be deemed to have come into force on the 29th day of September, 1994.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-- 1[(a) "authorised officer" means, within his local limits of jurisdiction,-- (i) a District Magistrate, or (ii) a Sub-divisional Magistrate, or (iii) a Commissioner of Police, and includes any other officer notified in the Official Gazette, by the Central Government or the StateGovernment, to be an authorised officer for such local limits of jurisdiction as may be determined bythat Government;] 2[(ai) "Authority" means the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India established undersub-section (1) of section 3 of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997 (24 of 1997); (aii) "Broadcaster" means a person or a group of persons, or body corporate, or any organisationor body providing programming services and includes his or its authorised distribution agencies; (aiii) "cable operator" means any person who provides cable service through a cable televisionnetwork or otherwise controls or is responsible for the management and operation of a cabletelevision network and fulfils the prescribed eligibility criteria and conditions;] (b) "cable service" means the transmission by cables of programmes including re-transmission bycables of any broadcast television signals; (c) "cable television network" means any system consisting of a set of closed transmission pathsand associated signal generation, control and distribution equipment, designed to provide cableservice for reception by multiple subscribers; (d) "company" means a company as defined in section 3 of the Companies Act, 1956(1 of 1956); (e) "person" means-- (i) an individual who is a citizen of India; (ii) an association of individuals or body of individuals, whether incorporated or not, whosemembers are citizens of India; 3[(iii) a company as defined in section 3 of the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956);] 4[(ei) "post" means a post and includes a pole, tower, standard, stay, strut, cabinet, pillar or anyabove ground contrivance for carrying, suspending or supporting any network infrastructure facility;] (f) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act; (g) "programme" means any television broadcast and includes-- (i) exhibition of films, features, dramas, advertisements and serials 5***; (ii) any audio or visual or audio-visual live performance or presentation, and the expression programming service shall be construed accordingly; 4[(gi) "public authority" means any authority, body or institution of local self-government constituted or established by or under-- (i) the Constitution of India; (ii) any law made by Parliament; (iii) any law made by a State Legislature; (iv) any notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government, and includes any-- (v) body owned, controlled or substantially financed; or (vi) non-governmental organisation substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government;] (h) "registering authority" means such authority as the Central Government may, by notificationin the Official Gazette, specify to perform the functions of the registering authority under thisAct 4[within such local limits of jurisdiction as may be determined by that Government]; (i) "subscriber" means 6[any individual, or association of individuals, or a company, or any otherorganisation or body]who receives the signals of cable television network at a place 7[indicated byhim or it] to the cable operator, without further transmitting it to any other person.

No person shall operatea cable television network unless he is registered as a cable operator under this Act. 1* * * * *

1[4. Registration as cable operator.--(1) Any person who is desirous of operating or is operating acable television network may apply for registration or renewal of registration, as a cable operator to theregistering authority. (2) The cable operator shall fulfil such eligibility criteria and conditions as may be prescribed anddifferent eligibility criteria may be prescribed for different categories of cable operators. (3) On and from the date of issue of notification under section 4A, no new registration in a State, city,town or area notified under that section shall be granted to any cable operator who does not undertake totransmit or re-transmit channels in an encrypted form through a digital addressable system. (4) An application under sub-section (1) shall be made in such form and be accompanied by suchdocuments and fees as may be prescribed. (5) On receipt of the application, the registering authority shall satisfy itself that the applicant hasfurnished all the required information prescribed under sub-section (4) and on being so satisfied, registerthe applicant as a cable operator and grant him a certificate of registration or renew its registration, as thecase may be, subject to such terms and conditions as may be prescribed under sub-section (6): Provided that the registering authority may, if it is satisfied that the applicant does not fulfil theeligibility criteria and conditions prescribed under sub-section (2) or the application is not accompaniedby necessary documents or fees as prescribed under sub-section (4), and for reasons to be recorded inwriting, by order, refuse to grant its registration or renewal, as the case may be, and communicate thesame to the applicant: Provided further that the applicant may prefer an appeal against the order of the registering authorityrefusing grant or renewal of registration to the Central Government. (6) Without prejudice to the compliance of eligibility criteria for registration of cable operators, theCentral Government may prescribe, having regard to the interests of the sovereignty and integrity ofIndia, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality,foreign relation or contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence, such terms and conditionsof registration including additional criteria or conditions to be fulfilled by the cable operator. (7) The Central Government may suspend or revoke the registration granted under sub-section (5) ifthe cable operator violates one or more of the terms and conditions of such registration: Provided that no such order of suspension or revocation shall be made without giving reasonableopportunity of being heard to the cable operator.]

1[4A. Transmission of programmes through digital addressable systems, etc.-- (1) Where theCentral Government is satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest so to do, it may, by notificationin the Official Gazette, make it obligatory for every cable operator to transmit or re-transmit programmesof any channel in an encrypted form through a digital addressable system with effect from such date asmay be specified in the notification and different dates may be specified for different States, cities, townsor areas, as the case may be: Provided that the date specified in the notification shall not be earlier than six months from the date ofissue of such notification to enable the cable operators in different States, cities, towns or areas to installthe equipment required for the purposes of this sub-section. (2) The Central Government may prescribe appropriate measures and take such steps as it mayconsider necessary for implementation of the notification issued under sub-section(1). (3) If the Central Government is satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest so to do, and if nototherwise specified by the Authority, it may direct the Authority to specify, by notification in the OfficialGazette, one or more free-to-air channels to be included in the package of channels forming basic servicetier and any one or more such channels may be specified, in the notification, genre-wise for providing aprogramme mix of entertainment, information, education and such other programmes and fix the tariff forbasic service tier which shall be offered by the cable operators to the consumers and the consumer shallhave the option to subscribe to any such tier: Provided that the cable operator shall also offer the channels in the basic service tier on a la cartebasis to the subscriber at a tariff specified under this sub-section. (4) The Central Government or the Authority may specify in the notification referred to insub-section (3), the number of free-to-air channels to be included in the package of channels forming basic service tier for the purposes of that sub-section and different numbers may be specified for differentStates, cities, towns or areas, as the case may be. (5) It shall be obligatory for every cable operator to publicise the prescribed information including butnot limited to subscription rates, standards of quality of service and mechanism for redressal ofsubscribers' grievances in such manner and at such periodic intervals as may be specified by the CentralGovernment or the Authority for the benefit of the subscriber. (6) The cable operator shall not require any subscriber to have a receiver set of a particular type toreceive signals of cable television network: Provided that the subscriber shall use a digital addressable system to be attached to his receiver set forreceiving programmes transmitted on any channel. (7) Every cable operator shall provide such information relating to its cable services and networks insuch format and at such periodic intervals to the Central Government or the State Governments or theAuthority or their authorised representatives, as may be specified by them from time to time. (8) All actions taken by the Central Government or the Authority in pursuance of the provisions ofthis section as they stood immediately before the 25th day of October, 2011shall continue to remain inforce till such actions are modified as per the provisions of this Act. Explanation.--For the purposes of this section,-- (a) "addressable system" means an electronic device (which includes hardware and its associatedsoftware) or more than one electronic device put in an integrated system through which signals ofcable television network can be sent in encrypted form, which can be decoded by the device ordevices, having an activated Conditional Access System at the premises of the subscriber within thelimits of authorisation made, through the Conditional Access System and the subscriber managementsystem, on the explicit choice and request of such subscriber, by the cable operator to the subscriber; (b) "basic service tier" means a package of free-to-air channels to be offered by a cable operatorto a subscriber with an option to subscribe, for a single price to subscribers of the area in which hiscable television network is providing service; (c) "encrypted", in respect of a signal of cable television network, means the changing of suchsignal in a systematic way so that the signal would be unintelligible without use of an addressablesystem and the expression "unencrypted" shall be construed accordingly; (d) "free-to-air channel", in respect of a cable television network, means a channel for which nosubscription fee is to be paid by the cable operator to the broadcaster for its re-transmission on cable; (e) "pay channel", in respect of a cable television network, means a channel for whichsubscription fees is to be paid to the broadcaster by the cable operator and due authorisation needs tobe taken from the broadcaster for its re-transmission on cable; (f) "subscriber management system" means a system or device which stores the subscriberrecords and details with respect to name, address and other information regarding the hardware beingutilised by the subscriber, channels or bouquets of channels subscribed to by the subscriber, price ofsuch channels or bouquets of channels as defined in the system, the activation or deactivation datesand time for any channel or bouquets of channels, a log of all actions performed on a subscriber'srecord, invoices raised on each subscriber and the amounts paid or discount allowed to the subscriberfor each billing period.]