The festive season in India is actually one of the most awaited times of the year as the customers of various services, be it prepaid, DTH, or broadband, get to see many offers, discounts, and promotions in lieu of the festive season. This has been especially true for the DTH industry lately. We say this because, for the festive season, the major broadcasters in the country, which are behind some of the most popular TV channels, have come together to bring a promotional price cut on these channels. This means that subscribers of DTH services are able to get these channels at a much more attractive price as compared to what they were paying before. Currently, we have seen many major DTH service providers offer this discount, and that includes Airtel Digital TV, Sun Direct, and D2h. However, there was one operator which was missing from this list, and that was Dish TV. But, now even Dish TV is offering the same benefit to its customers.
Dish TV Finally Brings Discounted Channels for Subscribers
Firstly, when the price cut was introduced on these channels, the first to announce the price cut were the broadcasters themselves. However, the DTH service providers were the ones who would actually ship this offer to the customers. Hence, Tata Sky was the first DTH provider to announce that it would be passing on the benefit of the new price cut to the subscribers. Following on those footsteps was Sun Direct, which also announced that it would be providing these select channels with a reduced rate. Lastly, we got to know that major DTH operators, Airtel Digital TV and D2h, also joined the league of operators who were offering this new price cut to their subscribers. Now, it seems that the second largest DTH operator in the country, Dish TV is also providing these channels at a lower price.
With this new price cut of the channels, it is crucial to note that the new pricing of these channels has been brought forth by the broadcasters themselves and not the DTH operators. This means that the price has been cut not only for the subscribers but for the DTH operators as well. As part of this new price cut, major broadcasters like Sony Pictures Networks India, Star India, Viacom18, Zee Entertainment Limited have announced that many of their channels would be available at a lower price. To recall, the channels which have received the price cut are SD channels by these broadcasters, and previously, they were available for Rs 19 per month. Now, a lot of these channels are retailing for only Rs 12 per month, which means that subscribers would be saving Rs 7 per channel in this list.
Major Channels Under Price Cut
Not only this, but the broadcasters have reduced the prices of many more channels, albeit by a small number. Some of the popular channels which were retailing for Rs 19 before but are now available for Rs 12 include Colors, Colors, Kannada, SET MAX, SAB, Star Plus, and more. Now the question is, why the broadcasters have suddenly decided to cut the prices of these channels and the answer to this lies in the fact that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) could be preparing to bring a new regulatory change in the industry, wherein it could cap the discounts on the channel bouquets. If this happens, then the DTH operators would not be able to offer an a-la-carte channel with a price that is higher than 15% more than the pricing of the channel in the channel bouquet. Not only this, but the entity which represents major cable TV operators in India, AIDCF, has also announced that it would be passing on the benefit of the new price cut on channels to the subscribers.
