The latest change in the DTH industry right now comes from the changes made to the Trai tariff regime which has been made by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) itself. In the changes, the telecom regulator has accepted that the prices have gone up for the subscribers of the DTH industry and then the authority has gone on to introduce some major rule changes which primarily concern the pricing of the channel packs and Network Capacity Fee (NCF). Under this new change, the rampant discounting of the channel packs will stop from the DPOs (Distribution Platform Operators (DPOs). As part of this, the broadcasters will also be made to reduce the prices of some of their channels if they want to include those channels in the channel bouquets. As per the new Trai DTH rule changes, the channels which are priced less than Rs 12 per month can only be included in the channel packs. Rest of the channels will have to be retailed separately. Star India happens to be the first broadcaster which is making changes to the prices of its channels. In the coming weeks too, Star India will be making some major changes to its channel pricing. Here is what you need to know.
Star India Price Revision for Some Channels
Star India has remarked that the current prices of the Star India channels are going to be valid until the end of January 2020. Starting February 1, 2020, the new pricing of the Star India channels will kick in. It is worth noting that the changes which are to happen in the coming days are already on the way in some way or the other for the Star India channels. For example, back in October as part of the seasonal offer, Star India had reduced the pricing of its 16 popular channels down to Rs 12. These channels included Star Plus, Maa TV, Star Jalsha, Asianet, Vijay TV, and Asianet Movies. But, this was a seasonal offering only. A lot of these popular channels will be available as individual selections only.
As per the new pricing and the new rules, Star Plus, Star Jalsha, Maa TV, Vijay TV, Asianet, Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 Hindi, Star Sports 1 Tamil, Star Sports 1 Marathi, Star Sports 1 Telugu, Star Sports 1 Bangla, Star Sports 1 Kannada, and Star Sports Select 1 will be priced at Rs 19 each. Other channels like Maa Movies, Star Gold, and Asianet Movies will be priced at Rs 15 each. Star Suvarna and Star Bharat will have an MRP of Rs 12 each. Star Pravah and Jalsha Movies will be priced at Rs 10 each. Similarly, other SD channels are likely to be priced under the Rs 10 price mark.
New Channels from Star India
Star India’s pricing change will not be the only thing that it will change in the coming days. But, the broadcaster has also revealed that it will be launching new channels in the February and March month as well. These channels will include three new HD channels and two new SD channels. Also, Star India will change the name of the channel Movies OK to Star Gold 2. The SD channels under the new launches will include Vijay Music and Star Movies Select, whereas the HD channels will include Star Gold 2 HD, Star Sports 3 HD, and Disney Channel HD.
