New Cable TV Tariff Model Put On Hold; Consumers King Under New Regime

New Delhi: The new Cable Television and Tariff model as mandated by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has been put on hold by it on Thursday amid confusions and several theories surrounding the process of migration to the new plan. The new tariff structure was to come into force two days later from December 29.

In a statement, TRAI has dismissed rumours that there would be black-out of the existing subscribed channels after December 29 and has asked broadcasters and cable and DTH operators to ensure that none of the channels consumers are watching is discontinued on December 29.

The migration plan will provide ample opportunity to each and every subscriber for making informed choice. This will also enable service providers in carrying out the various activities as stipulated in the new regulatory framework in a time-bound manner, TRAI statement said.

So what is the new model that TRAI has mandated:

1. Viewers like you and me were paying a fee for a lumpsum number of channels cable and DTH players used to offer. But under the new TRAI regime, broadcasters will have to offer all the channels on a-la-carte basis at their maximum-retail-price (MRP).

2. Cable and DTH television subscribers will get 100 free-to-air channels at Rs 130 a month. For pay channels, a subscriber needs to pick each of them individually and pay a fixed monthly rate for each.

3. Significantly, MRP of every channel offered on a-la-carte basis has to be displayed on TV screen through the electronic program guide. The broadcasters and distributors (cable & DTH players) can offer bouquets of channels, but price of bouquets are also required to be published transparently.

4. TRAI reckons that if a consumer chooses channels of her choice, the amount payable by her may be even less than the present payments being made per month. Service providers, on the other hand, fear a dip in their revenue.

So what would be the price of the channels?

5. Let us take, for example, the channels offered by Sony Pictures Network India. As per some unconfirmed reports, Sony noted that it channels including Sony Entertainment Television (SET), Sony Sab, and Sony Ten 1 will be priced at Rs 19 each while other channels like Sony Ten 2 will now have an MRP of Rs 17. Its four HD channels by will be priced at Rs 19. Similarly, Star Network’s SD packs could come at Rs 49 and premium packs at Rs 79.

6. TRAI has removed the price caps from channels and allowed broadcasters to fix the MRP of their channels under complete forbearance. One of the channels has been priced at 1,800 per month, according to The Economic Times. A broadcaster cannot club pay-and-free channels together or offer premium channels (priced over 19 per month) in the bouquet.

7. Consumers have complained that the service providers are resorting to ambiguity about the pricinig and not furnishing details about the migration plans. The twitter accounts of some of the providers seemed to be of little help either.

8. Running of unpopular channels can become unviable for the broadcasters under the new regime. As per the BARC data quoted by TRAI, more than 90 percent of families view or flip 50 channels or less.

9. TRAI has also passed a new mandate, capping the installation and activation charged for DTH providers at Rs 500. This new mandate states that DTH providers will not be able to charge more than Rs 350 as installation charge and not more than Rs 150 as an activation charge of the service.

10. Currently DTH providers charge Rs 1,200 for installation and activation of DTH service.