DTH Bills to Go Up in a Few Weeks in India

Direct-to-Home (DTH) services are soon going to get more expensive than what it costs right now. In the coming weeks, consumers will see the impact of the New Tariff Order (NTO) 3.0. The DTH operators will pass on the rising cost implemented by the broadcasters to the consumers. But it won’t happen in one go. According to an ET report, the DTH players will look to increase the price of the DTH services in a phased manner. Going with a hike in prices in one go would shock the consumer, and that’s why it is a smart move to increase prices in a staggered manner.

As per the report, the bills for the consumers would go up by Rs 25 to Rs 50 per customer. The average revenue per user (ARPU) figure for TV subscriptions in India stood at Rs 223, net of taxes, said the FICCI-EY 2022 report. A spokesperson from Tata Play told the publication that the company would increase the prices in steps over a period of four to six weeks.

The DTH bills for customers would increase after a period of four years. However, it won’t be a very big increase. Consumers would see about a 5% to 6% hike in their bills as the DTH operators are not hiking the network capacity fee (NCF). But what’s worrying for the DTH industry is the churn that might bring to the table.

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OTT (over-the-top) players are already gaining ground in the DTH industry in India. If DTH services get expensive, that may push more users to opt for OTT platforms. To counter the churn that the growth of OTT might bring for the DTH industry, the DTH players are integrating OTT offerings into their service portfolios as well. Almost all the DTH operators in the country are now offering aggregated OTT services to consumers.