API Specifications for Channel Selection System

F.No.12-37/2019-B&CS Dated: 22nd October 2019

To,

All DPOs (DTH/MSO/HITS/IPTV)

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable) Services Standards of Quality of Service and Consumer Protection (Addressable Systems) (Second Amendment) Regulations, 2019 (6 of 2019) on 9th October 2019.

2. Through this regulation (second amendment), TRAI has mandated the DPOs to allow the consumers to access channels/ bouquets available on its platform and have ease in selection of channels and bouquets (addition/ deletion) of their choice, view their subscription and modify the same through the TRAI's APP/Portal. DPOs are also mandated to share/exchange the information through API with the TRAI whenever the Authority asks for the same for ensuring integration with the TRAI's APP.

3. In the explanatory memorandum to the above said regulation it has been also mentioned that the Authority is in the process of finalising the API Specifications which will be communicated separately to the DPOs. After due consultation process and discussion with technical team of the DPOs, the Authority has finalised the API Specifications which are annexed as Annexure. These APIs are to be integrated with the APP/Portal developed by TRAI.

4. Ms. Archna Ahlawat, Jt. Advisor (IT) (jait.trai@gmail.com) will be the nodal officer from TRAI side for integrating API with the APP/Portal developed by TRAI. DPOs are hereby directed to share the URLs of production APIs as envisaged in API specification document (Annexure) by 21st November 2019.

(Arvind Kumar) Advisor (B&CS)

Encl: as above

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Annexure

Channel Selection System API Specifications

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Mahanagar Door Sanchar Bhawan, Jawahar Lal Nehru Marg, New Delhi – 110002

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Table of Contents

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1. Glossary of Terms

• DPO: Distribution Platform Operator stands for MSO/DTH.
• MSO: Stands for Multiple System Operator. MSO is the industry term for "cable company". Each cable TV installation serving a community is known as a "cable system", and the operator of the system is called the "system operator". Most system operators run cable systems in more than one community. DTH is Direct to home
• LCO: LCO stands for Local Cable Operator.
• JSON: JSON stands for JavaScript Object Notation. JSON is a lightweight format for storing and transporting data.
• URL: URL is the abbreviation of Uniform Resource Locator and is defined as the global address of documents and other resources on the World Wide Web.
• OTP: OTP stands for one-time password. It is a password that is valid for only one login session or transaction, on a computer system or other digital device.
• HTTP: HTTP stand for HyperText Transfer Protocol. The communications protocol used to connect to Web servers on the Internet or on a local network (intranet). Its primary function is to establish a connection with the server and send HTML pages back to the subscriber's browser.
• SUBSCRIBER: A subscriber is a person who pays to receive channels regularly from operator. A subscriber will have a registered mobile no./customer ID/subscriber ID/VC Card.
• HEADEND: A headend is a facility that accepts TV signals as input from satellites, processes them into cable-quality signals, and then distributes them to homes and cable networks. It can be considered as the master distribution center where incoming television signals are received, selected, amplified and re-modulated, and sent for transmission to cable networks.
• API: Application Program Interface
• JWT: JSON Web Token
• REST: Representational State Transfer
• IT Application: TRAI Mobile App and Web portal

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2. Introduction

2.1 This document defines specifications for Web APIs to allow easy interchange of information between a Distribution Platform and TRAI App & Portal. Such information includes the details of channels and bouquets that the platform offers to its subscribers, the current active subscription of a subscriber, and the updated subscription that the subscriber is desirous of setting.

2.2 The APIs are designed to enable such interchange without sharing information that either personally identifies a subscriber or which is not necessary to accomplish the task at hand.

3. Objectives

3.1 With TRAI's New Regulation for the Television and Broadcasting Sector having come into force, Subscribers have the freedom to select Television (TV) Channels they want to watch. The main objective of the API design is to develop App & Portal to assist subscribers in making their choice and accordingly configuring the subscription.

3.2 TRAI envisions a scalable model in which Subscriber (through Apps/Portals) can securely communicate with the platforms managed by DPOs. The IT application will facilitate subscribers to choose channels/bouquets of their interest among the offerings by their respective DPO. The IT application may suggest an optimum configuration of bouquets based on channels desired by the subscriber so as to reduce total monthly bill or offer other features such as suggested packages based on subscriber profile. The APIs by themselves, however, neither encourage nor facilitate subscriber profiling.

4. Document Objectives

4.1 This document describes the base architecture of the IT application and elaborates the specifications for the data exchange APIs. These APIs shall be hosted by DPOs. All DPOs shall share the URL of hosted APIs with TRAI. These standard APIs shall ensure the interconnectivity among various platform which are based on different technology stacks.

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5. TRAI IT Application

5.1 The TRAI IT application shall support APS (Acquire subscriber current subscriptions from DPO, Provide options of channels/bouquets for selection, Set subscriber subscriptions of their choices on the DPO platform). All the three participants i.e. Subscriber, TRAI IT application & DPOs shall interact through Data APIs. The high-level architecture of the system is detailed below:

[Diagram showing: Consumers -> TRAI Apps & Portals (Information exchange through APIs) <-> DPO (Subscriber Details, Subscription, Channels, Bouquets); Consumers -> (Secure communication medium) -> DPO; TRAI -> (Publish API Specifications) -> DPO; Consumers -> (OTP/Auth Token) -> DPO]

5.2 TRAI IT application network communication shall be encrypted and secured, using SSL, to maintain the privacy and eligibility of the data travelling through the medium. Accordingly, it is proposed to implement JWT token. This will ensure only authenticated API requests are responded.

6. Process Flow of the TRAI IT Application

6.1 The process flow is conceptualized as follow:

I. Subscribers shall be able to access Apps/Portals developed by TRAI. II. Each Subscriber shall be validated through OTP against Subscriber ID or Registered mobile no. or VC number or Auth token. III. The validation of subscriber shall be done by DPO, when triggered by App/Portal. IV. Upon successful validation, subscriber will get session token to fetch further details i.e. subscriber’s current subscription. V. Subscribers shall be able to modify their current subscription either by removing existing channel/bouquet and/or adding new channel/bouquet. VI. The App/Portal shall submit the changes in the subscriber’s subscription to their respective DPO. VII. Subscriber can fetch the current status of subscription request.