Popular Cable Television operators Hathway and Den Networks has now revealed the new channel prices according to the latest Trai regime. Joining Hathway and Den Networks is Siti Cable which is also one of the biggest Cable TV service provider in the southern states. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is currently pushing service providers to move their subscribers to the latest regime where consumers can choose their channels individually. Hathway Cable revealed that its free channels pack had been priced at around Rs 150 (including taxes). Den Networks also has its base pack priced around the same alongside Siti Cable. Other service providers such as Airtel Digital TV, D2h have already revealed their new channel pricing.
Hathway Announces Base Packs and Other Pricing
Hathway has gone ahead with the network charge of Rs 130 which is the highest amount permitted by Trai as per the new rules. The cable operator will also charge Rs 24 as taxes. According to the new regime, a customer will be more in control as it will be upon him or her to pay the network charge for 100 channels and further choose which channels are in the subscribed pack. However, the regulator has not restricted the cable operators from making their own packs or bouquets as a starting point.
Therefore, on these lines, the DTH providers have come up with pay channel packs which are in the Rs 270 – Rs 400 price range. For example, a lot of Marathi channel packs which come with a large chunk of bundled free channels have been priced around Rs 270, while other language packs come around the price of Rs 300.
However, it should be noted that that the ‘packs’ arranged by the DTH operators will only be mere suggestions and that the subscribers will have full flexibility as to what channels they want to keep or let go of. But still, it is quite possible that many non-tech savvy subscribers will subscribe to the packs suggested by the DTH providers as it is. The results for the same will also be visible as the viewership for default channels will shoot up. Still, the 100 pay channels which will be covered under the umbrella of network charges will be solely based on the selection of subscribers. If the customers opt for a pay channel, then they will have to pay the particular cost of that channel over the decided Rs 154.
You can check out the new prices by heading over to these links: Hathway, Den Networks, Siti Cable. For D2h packs, head over to the company's official website.
D2h Prices Base Pack at Rs 154 Inclusive of Taxes
With this new report, it is clear that biggest cable operators including Den, Siti and Hathway have abided by the new regulations laid down by Trai. However, the big DTH operators are yet to comply with the new mandates and they also have to publish their new pricing scheme.
On the same lines, D2h, previously known as Videocon D2h has also published two of its base channel packs. The provider has also priced its base channel packs similar to Hathway at the highest permissible limit of Rs 130. Combined with taxes, these base packs will be available to the subscribers for Rs 154 only. These base packs will be like the ones we described above and will act as suggestions only. Depending on the subscriber’s viewing habits, languages or other choices they will be able to call up the DTH providers and change the channels in the base pack. The pay channels will also be up for a subscription, but the charge for them will be levied over the base channel pack price.
