Summary

  • TRAI recommends a new authorisation category for apps and websites that aggregate scheduled television channels and distribute them over the Internet.
  • The application provider would hold the authorisation; TV manufacturers and operating-system providers would restrict availability to authorised apps and file annual compliance reports.

Analysis

The cable box used to be the obvious television gatekeeper. Now a channel can arrive through an app on a connected television, a phone, or a browser, while the Internet carries the signal and the schedule still behaves like television: one programme after another, at a time someone chose.

India’s Telecom Regulatory Authority has given that service a label: Application-based Linear Television Distribution, or ALTD. On 26 October it recommended an authorisation framework for the category, including free ad-supported streaming television. The recommendation does not scoop every video app into one regulatory bucket. Its subject is the aggregation and distribution of linear channels, with optional extras such as on-demand audiovisual content.

That distinction matters. A service can look like “just an app” to the person holding the remote and function like a television distributor to the authority writing the rulebook. TRAI recommends placing ALTD as a distinct sub-category under Television Channel Distribution Services in the broadcasting authorisation framework under section 3(1)(a) of the Telecommunications Act, 2023. The app provider—not the television sitting on the cabinet—would be the primary entity responsible for obtaining authorisation and complying with its terms.

The television still gets called into the office.

The app carries the licence; the store checks the badge

TRAI recommends that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting maintain a Master ALTD app repository. TV manufacturers and operating-system providers would ensure that only authorised ALTD applications appear through their devices and application stores, then send the Ministry an annual compliance report.

The division is unusually clear. The application provider is the named authorisation holder. Device and operating-system companies become availability checkpoints. They do not inherit the app provider’s licence in TRAI’s proposal; they acquire a separate duty to police which covered apps can be installed or accessed through their systems.

The proposed service definition reaches apps, websites and similar interfaces used on Internet-enabled devices. It includes government-approved linear channels, internet-native linear channels with approved names and logos, and the app provider’s own platform-service channels. A service may bundle on-demand audiovisual material as a value-added feature. TRAI also draws boundaries: broadcaster-owned platforms carrying only their own or group-company channels are excluded, as are live streams on social-media intermediaries.

The regulator has even written the bill in advance. It recommends a national service area, a 20-year initial authorisation renewable in successive 10-year periods, a ₹10,000 processing fee and a one-time ₹1 lakh entry fee. It recommends no authorisation fee, bank guarantee or security deposit. That is the “light-touch” part: a long runway and modest entry charges, paired with a new perimeter around distribution.

The programme still needs paperwork

TRAI recommends simplified registration for internet-native linear television channels. An authorised ALTD service would distribute only channels with valid permission, authorisation or registration from the Central Government. The application provider would also serve as the primary contact for consumer complaints and grievance redressal about the service.

The audience is part of the plan too. TRAI recommends incorporating ALTD channel viewership into television audience measurement. Authorised app providers could publish anonymised periodic viewing data under the TV Ratings Policy, 2026. That gives the proposed framework a route from app availability, through channel status and complaints, to a more formal account of who watches what.

This was not a one-afternoon brainstorm. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting referred the subject to TRAI in December 2025. TRAI opened consultation in April, received 207 comments and 11 counter-comments, and held an open-house discussion in June. The recommendations published on 26 October are the regulator’s answer to that record.

They are still recommendations. TRAI says the authorisation terms should be notified as Rules under section 56 of the Telecommunications Act, and proposes an online portal for authorisation, channel registration and reporting. The application provider, app-store checkpoint, repository, complaint contact and audience-measurement hooks sit in the proposed design; the Central Government still has to make the rules that put that design into effect.¹

For businesses, the first classification question is practical: does the service aggregate scheduled channels for Indian users, or does it do something narrower? The next question is organisational: who owns the application, who can verify channel status, who controls device-store availability, and where does a customer’s complaint land? A service that treats those as four unrelated inboxes may find the regulator has drawn one operating boundary around them.

TRAI has turned the smart television into a compliance checkpoint. The app provider keeps the authorisation; the screens and operating systems decide whether the app gets through the door.

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