In the last few days, there have been a few more changes in the DTH and broadcasting sector after the implementation of the new tariff regime. While the new regulatory framework by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) was more about bringing a massive change in the industry, these new changes are about fine-tuning the new rules to provide the best to the consumers, with fair pricing and transparency. Firstly, we saw major DTH provider Tata Sky end its multi-TV policy on June 15, replacing it with standard pricing for all subscriptions. Another Cable TV service provider has implemented the same, and it is Hathway Cable and Datacom.
Hathway New Multi-TV Policy Details
Hathway announced a change in its multi-TV policy, and it very acutely replicates the situation and solution of Tata Sky. The cable TV service provider has done a revamp of its multi-TV policy again, thus changing again what the subscribers pay for their second TV connection. Hathway Cable and Datacom has announced that now subscribers will be able to choose channels on their second connection without any hindrance and independently from the first TV connection. Hathway noted in its change in multi-TV policy that the network capacity fee for the second television connection will be equal to the network capacity fee charged to other television connection. Lastly, it is also worth noting that this price for multi-TV is not entirely fixed and mandated by Trai, as the company reserves the right to modify/alter the network capacity fee charged to second television connection.
According to the new multi-TV policy for Hathway subscribers, the NCF to be charged for the second connection would be Rs 130 per Set Top Box per month for network capacity up to one hundred Standard definition (SD) channels, and a Rs 20 per month extra slab would be charged from the subscribers if they add 25 more SD channels to their subscription. Hence, if the subscribers opt for 100 SD channels on their second subscription, they will be paying Rs 153 including taxes in NCF besides the content charges of the channels they have subscribed to.
Tata Sky Charging Same for Multi-TV Connections
It is worth noting that the pricing of the new multi-TV connection of Hathway has become similar to a new connection altogether meaning that if the subscribers were to select the same channels on their primary and secondary connection on Hathway they would be charged the exact same amount for the two connections. We speculate that the reason why Tata Sky and Hathway have made this change is that they wanted the subscribers to have the flexibility of choosing their own channels on the second TV connection as well and thus avoid any “mirroring” of channels. Now Tata Sky subscribers are paying the same NCF for their second TV connection and have the choice of selecting different channels for their secondary connection.
