The DTH industry in India is brimming with new changes right now. The initial few months of the year 2019 were similar as the DTH industry was undergoing a massive transition with the rollout of the Trai tariff regime which was brought together by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). However, this year since the start of the January month, the reeling changes have been brought forth by the changes that are now made to the new Trai tariff regime. These changes transform some of the major rules which were proposed in the Trai tariff regime and were in usage by the DTH companies, cable TV operators and consequently the subscribers as well. But, with the new changes in effect now, the subscribers will have different pricing rules for the multi TV channels, the different number of channels under the base NCF and some cap on the discount of channel packs. However, one of the drawbacks of the new changes in the rule change is the increase in the pricing of the channels. Some of the most popular channels by the broadcasters will now retail for more price than what they were retailing for. One of the major DTH broadcasters Airtel Digital TV has announced the new price list of these channels as well.
Increased Channel Pricing for Airtel Digital TV Subscribers
Airtel Digital TV, which is one of the most popular DTH operators in India, has issued a pricing list for the channels which will be retailing at an increased price in a few days. The DTH operator has noted that the discount which was being offered by the broadcasters on the Airtel Digital TV connection for the channels will no longer be valid after January 9. This basically means that starting today, some of the channels which used to be available at a cheap rate will now be billed at a higher cost.
Multiple Broadcasters Stop Shipping Channel Discounts
Airtel Digital TV’s list of channels includes names like Hungama which was available to the subscribers up till now for Rs 1 per month, but starting today, it would be billed at Rs 6 per month. After taxes, the cost of the channel would come out to be Rs 7.08. One of the other popular GECs, which is Star Plus was previously available to the subscribers for around Rs 14 with taxes, however, with the new regulatory change and following this move by the broadcasters, and the channel will now be available for Rs 22.42. Similarly, there are other channels as well in the list like NGC, Nat Geo Wild, Star Maa Tv, Asianet, Colors, Colors Kannada and more. Many of the Zee channels as well such as Zee Bangla, Zee Marathi, Zee Telugu and more will also retail for Rs 22.42 per month instead of the previous Rs 14 pricing.
Issues With New DTH Rule Changes
It is worth noting that a few months back, a lot of the broadcasters had reduced the pricing of their channels by quite a lot of margin to ship very attractive a-la-carte channel options around the festive time. However, the pricing is now being withdrawn and is being replaced by the standard pricing of the channels. The increase in prices of the channels also happens to be one of the major drawbacks of the new changes brought by Trai. Under the new rules, channels priced more than Rs 12 cannot be bundled under channel packs and have to be sold separately. This, along with the discount cap on the channel packs, is something that the subscribers might not like about the new DTH rules.
