FAST Channels India: TRAI's Channel Fees Dwarf the App Fee

By TradeFlock's calculation, registering 50 internet-only channels in India would cost about ₹5.05 crore, or about $530,600, over 10 years under recommendations the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) dated Monday, Oct. 26, India time. The app carrying those channels would pay ₹1.1 lakh, about $1,156, once for 20 years. That gap would reach free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) services through the channel owners that supply them. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has not said whether it will adopt the proposals.

The Arithmetic: One App Fee, Many Channel Fees

TRAI would charge an app a ₹10,000 processing fee and a one-time ₹1 lakh entry fee for a 20-year authorisation (paragraph 2.132). Each "Internet-native linear television channel," meaning a non-news channel made only for such apps, would pay a ₹10,000 processing fee and ₹1 lakh a year during a 10-year registration (paragraph 3.73). By TradeFlock's calculation:

• One app, 20 years: ₹1.1 lakh, about $1,156.
• 50 channels, 10 years: ₹5.05 crore, about $530,600, or about 459 times the app's bill.
• 100 channels, 10 years: ₹10.1 crore, about $1.06 million, or about 918 times.

The assumptions are TradeFlock's. Each channel registers separately, pays the processing fee once and the annual fee in all 10 years, and none renews within the decade. TRAI's text says the annual fee is "payable during the validity period"; reading that as every year is TradeFlock's interpretation. Dollar figures use ₹95.17 per dollar, the Yahoo Finance quote at about 3:19 a.m. Eastern on Tuesday, Oct. 27. TRAI's press note lists the app fees but no channel fee. FAST stakeholders asked TRAI for "less than ₹25,000 per channel" (paragraph 3.59). TradeFlock has not verified that request.

Annexure V: What TV Makers Would Sign

Annexure V is an annual report, due within 30 days of each calendar year's end, from TV makers and operating system providers. The signatory declares that no authorised app "has been blocked, gated, restricted, or otherwise subjected to discriminatory treatment with respect to its availability, installation, access, or discoverability." The form also asks the date each app was pre-installed. MIB would keep a "Master ALTD app repository," and unauthorised apps would have to be removed immediately (paragraph 3.23).

How Samsung, LG, Google, Amazon and Roku Would Be Affected

This section rests only on each company's own pages. Whether a service falls under TRAI's definition of Application-based Linear Television Distribution (ALTD) is TradeFlock's reading, not TRAI's finding or the companies'. TradeFlock has not verified anything beyond those pages and has not contacted the companies.

Samsung. Samsung's India page says Samsung TV Plus is free with 200+ live channels. Its Aug. 24 newsroom post says the service comes pre-installed on Samsung Smart TVs and grew from over 50 channels to 200 in India. By TradeFlock's reading, Samsung would need an Indian-incorporated operator and Indian servers for viewing data, and would sign Annexure V as a TV maker. The post quotes NH Studioz, which supplies two of the channels and calls them part of its FAST expansion. If channels like those are made only for apps, NH Studioz would owe the ₹1 lakh yearly fee.

LG. LG's India page says LG Channels is built into LG Smart TVs, offers 150+ channels in 12+ languages and needs no separate account. TRAI's data rule (Annexure III, item 11) covers "content consumed" and "time of consuming content," so a missing sign-in would not by itself exempt that viewing data. LG would sit in the same two roles as Samsung.

Google. Google's help page says the Live tab on Google TV shows live TV from Google TV Freeplay (US only) or partners, and that in some countries it appears only once partners are added. As an operating system provider, Google would face the Annexure V no-blocking declaration. The page does not show whether Google would need its own authorisation in India.

Amazon. Amazon says miniTV, now part of Amazon MX Player, is free and ad-supported, with web series, reality shows and short films, on Fire TV and Android TV. That is on-demand content, and TradeFlock found no live channel guide on the page. Whether it would need authorisation is unclear. Amazon's Fire TV would still fall under the TV-maker and operating-system duties by TradeFlock's reading.

Roku. Roku's developer page lists Streaming Stores in North America, Europe, Latin America and Australia, not India. TradeFlock found no Roku India offering for the proposals to reach.

Search Demand for FAST Channels in India

TradeFlock checked Google autocomplete on Tuesday, Oct. 27, India time. "Fast channels india" returned itself and "fast tv channels in india." "Samsung tv plus india" returned "samsung tv plus india channel list," "lg channels india" returned "lg channels india list," and "free live tv india" returned "free live tv india app." Google's India Trending Now feed showed "live tv" at 500+ searches that day, with news items on TRAI's plan. Autocomplete shows suggested phrases, not search volume.

Foreign tech groups already work through local approvals in India, as in TradeFlock's reporting on Starlink's wait for approvals and Amazon's Alexa launch in India. On the US side of streaming, see TradeFlock's coverage of Disney and Hulu price hikes.

Fees and paragraph numbers are as printed in TRAI's recommendations. TradeFlock has not verified what stakeholders reported to TRAI.

Cover image: Phinken / Wikimedia Commons, CC0 (public domain dedication).