MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has extended the date of submission for comments on its consultation paper regarding landing page norms. The new dates for comments and counter comments are 4 May and 11 May respectively.
The regulator had issued the consultation paper on 4 April seeking comments and counter comments by 20 April and 27 April respectively. It also mentioned that no further request for extension would be entertained.
In November 2017, TRAI had issued orders to television distributors to refrain from placing registered satellite TV channels that had subscribed to a TV ratings agency, on the boot-up screen or landing channel. Two days ago, it assured the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) that it would withdraw the order and discuss the matter with stakeholders before proceeding on the issue.
The TRAI diktat, incidentally, had come after a clutch of news broadcasters had made allegations against a fellow TV channel of making use of the boot-up page to manipulate audience ratings and sampling of the product by viewers.
The landing or the bootup page is what a viewer sees first when a TV set and the connected set-top box are switched on. This page on the screen remains for a certain period of time after which the EPG or the electronic programming guide of the distribution service provider comes up. The landing page, considered hot real estate, usually carries paid advertisements of a TV channel programme or messages (like audience measurement data relating to a particular TV channel or even initial sampling of a new channel). The commercial use of the landing page results in sizable revenue for distribution platforms.
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