FAST, CTV could make TRAI's traditional broadcasting role irrelevant as TV shifts online

India's television industry is moving towards a structural shift that could gradually make the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's traditional role in broadcasting less relevant—not because television regulation will disappear, but because the distribution architecture around which much of that regulation was built is changing.

The rise of Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television (FAST), connected TV (CTV) and application-based linear television is moving channels from conventional satellite, cable and DTH networks to the open internet.

That creates a fundamental regulatory distinction: the content may remain television, but the carriage is no longer traditional broadcasting carriage.

TRAI's broadcasting interventions have historically focused heavily on the distribution side—interconnection, tariffs, quality of service and relationships between broadcasters and distribution platform operators. That architecture works when television reaches households through identifiable distribution platforms such as cable and DTH.

CTV potentially breaks that chain.

A channel delivered through satellite and subsequently distributed by a DTH operator operates within a very different regulatory framework from a channel accessed through an application on a smart TV over broadband.

"The fundamental issue is that TRAI's broadcasting regulations have historically been built around carriage. When the carriage itself moves to the internet, the relevance of those regulations starts reducing. The content remains television, but the distribution mechanism is fundamentally different," said a senior industry executive.

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The fault line is carriage versus content

This distinction could become increasingly important as CTV adoption grows.

An FTA channel distributed through DTH requires a relationship within the conventional broadcasting ecosystem. The same channel available through a smart-TV application can potentially reach viewers without a traditional distributor sitting between the broadcaster and consumer.

The same applies to pay-TV.

A subscription channel could eventually be offered directly through an application, allowing consumers to subscribe and watch it on a connected television without taking a conventional cable or DTH package.

That could weaken the relevance of traditional carriage regulation.

"Once a broadcaster can reach the television screen directly through IP, the middle layer becomes less critical. Many of the questions that TRAI has traditionally dealt with—particularly around carriage and interconnection—become less central," the executive said.

TRAI, meanwhile, has already recognised the emergence of this new category. In April 2026, it issued a consultation paper on Application-based Linear Television Distribution (ALTD) services, explicitly including FAST. The framework covers applications distributing linear channels through smart TVs, mobile devices and web-based platforms.

Significantly, TRAI chose the broader ALTD terminology rather than limiting the framework to FAST because internet-delivered linear television could evolve beyond today's free, advertising-supported model into subscription and hybrid services.

That acknowledgement itself illustrates the regulatory challenge: the market is moving beyond the traditional DPO-centric broadcasting architecture.

FAST could expose the limits of the DPO model

FAST is disruptive because it recreates the linear television experience without necessarily recreating the traditional distribution chain.

A viewer can open a FAST service on a connected television and watch a scheduled channel with advertising. But there may be no satellite transmission into the home and no cable or DTH distributor between the broadcaster and viewer.

"The consumer doesn't care whether a channel arrived through satellite, cable or IP. But from a regulatory standpoint, these are very different distribution models. If the market moves rapidly towards IP, the old categories will become increasingly difficult to sustain," said another senior media executive.

For FAST platforms, the immediate opportunity is to aggregate more FTA channels and build larger audiences. But the longer-term disruption could come when paid television follows the same route.

"If pay channels start moving seriously to application-based distribution, that is when the disruption becomes structural. A broadcaster could supply the same channel to DTH under one model and directly to a CTV application under another. The second model fundamentally reduces the importance of traditional carriage," said an industry executive.

Tariff and interconnection face a new test

This shift could also undermine some of the assumptions behind TRAI's tariff and interconnection frameworks.

Traditional tariff regulation operates within a distribution ecosystem where channels are packaged and sold through DPOs. Interconnection rules govern the relationship between broadcasters and distributors.

On the open internet, however, a broadcaster could control the application, consumer relationship and potentially subscription price.

The question then becomes: how should a conventional broadcasting tariff framework apply when there is no conventional distributor?

TRAI's ALTD consultation has already raised questions around tariff methodology and price parity, including situations where channels that are traditionally offered as pay channels on regulated distribution platforms are made available without a separate subscription charge through internet-based services.

The same challenge applies to interconnection.

A broadcaster distributing a channel through its own application does not have the same interconnection relationship as a broadcaster negotiating carriage with a DTH or cable operator.

"The word 'carriage' itself starts becoming outdated when the consumer is accessing a channel through an application. You can regulate access to a platform, but treating every internet application like a traditional DPO would require a fundamental redesign of the regulatory framework," said a senior executive familiar with the distribution ecosystem.

TRAI's role could shrink as IP television expands

The immediate response from policymakers may be to extend regulation to ALTD and FAST.

But there is a paradox here.

The creation of an ALTD framework could appear to expand TRAI's broadcasting role. Structurally, however, it could be evidence of the opposite trend: regulation is being created around a technology that is gradually moving television outside the traditional distribution system.

India could eventually have two parallel television ecosystems.

The first would comprise satellite, cable and DTH, where TRAI's existing tariff, interconnection and QoS regulations remain relevant.

The second would comprise FAST, broadcaster applications, CTV platforms and subscription-based linear channels delivered through IP.

As the second ecosystem grows, the economic significance of the first could decline.

"The regulator may gain a new responsibility during the transition, but that does not necessarily mean its long-term influence over television will increase. If distribution migrates to the open internet, the traditional carriage framework becomes progressively less important," said another industry executive.

Content regulation could move elsewhere

The irony is that while TRAI's relevance to carriage could decline, regulation around content and platforms could become more important.

Once television content is delivered through the internet, questions around content accountability, consumer protection, advertising, age-related safeguards, grievance redressal and platform responsibility increasingly overlap with the broader digital and broadcasting frameworks administered by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

This distinction could become central to India's future television policy.

TRAI may continue to regulate the legacy distribution infrastructure, while content and platform-related obligations increasingly sit within other regulatory frameworks.

The MIB's reference to TRAI on FAST and the subsequent ALTD consultation illustrate this transition: policymakers are trying to create a bridge between conventional broadcasting regulation and internet-based television.

CTV could ultimately change the regulator's relevance

The larger significance of FAST and CTV, therefore, is not simply the emergence of another advertising format.

It is the potential separation of television content from television carriage.

Under the traditional model, controlling the distribution pipe was central to the economics of television. Under the emerging model, control over the application, audience, content and advertising relationship could become more important.

If that transition accelerates, TRAI will continue to have a significant role in regulating conventional cable and DTH distribution. It may also establish an interim framework for ALTD services.

But its traditional broadcasting footprint could gradually narrow as more television moves to IP.

"The irony is that FAST is bringing linear television back to the internet. Regulation can attempt to replicate the old broadcasting architecture around it, but the economics and technology are moving in the opposite direction," said a senior industry executive.

The regulatory question, therefore, is no longer simply whether FAST should be regulated.

It is whether a regulatory framework designed around how television is carried can remain central when television increasingly becomes something that is simply accessed over the internet.

If CTV and application-based linear television become mainstream, TRAI's role in broadcasting may not disappear—but its traditional role as the regulator of television carriage could become progressively less relevant.