Broadcast regulator TRAI on Tuesday brought back the rule restraining television channels with a subscription fee of more than Rs 19 per month as part of a bouquet.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) notified the amendments to Tariff Order 2017 and Interconnection Regulations 2017 that now allow a broadcaster to offer a maximum discount of 45 per cent while pricing its bouquet of pay channels over the sum of MRPs of all the pay channels in that bouquet.

"Only those channels which are having MRP of Rs 19 or less will be permitted to be part of a bouquet," it said.

The TRAI said the discount offered as an incentive by a broadcaster on the maximum retail price of a pay channel shall be based on combined subscription of that channel both in a-la-carte as well as in bouquets.

It said that all the broadcasters shall report to the Authority any change in name, nature, language, MRP per month of channels, and composition and MRP of bouquets of channels, by December 16, 2022.

The regulator also asked broadcasters to simultaneously publish such information on their websites.

All the distributors of television channels shall ensure that services to the subscribers, with effect from February 1, 2023, are provided as per the bouquets or channels opted by them, it said.