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Andrew Bonwick
Vice President of Product Development at Relm Insurance
Madhav Sheth
CEO of Ai+ Smartphone
Stephen Rose
CEO Render Networks
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) brought the National Tariff Order back in 2019. The notification of this new development was seen as a positive step by the subscribers; however, the same feelings were not shared by the broadcasting community. The big hotshots of the broadcasting industry unitedly opposed the NTO in various High Courts across the country. The legal tussle still persists between the parties and the sector regulator. Soon after the new tariff regime, which was nightmarish to implement given the lack of preparation and technical know-how among the subscribers, it soon became clear that broadcasters might have had a point. As per the surveys post the NTO rollout, a lot of Cable TV subscribers reported a rise in their monthly bills, an outcome that was not expected. In such a scenario, it begs to be questioned what points do the broadcasters raise in this issue.
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Arbitrary Limit on Channel Pricing
First and foremost is the limit of channel pricing, which has been slapped on the broadcasters. Although in the latest Bombay High Court ruling, the broadcasters were able to break free from one clause of the NTO 2.0, the ideal scenario is far away for them even yet. In a conversation with a senior official of a big broadcasting firm, it was highlighted that TRAI had arbitrarily fixed the limit of the channel price at Rs 12 and then given the leeway of pricing it up to Rs 19. The main pain point for the broadcasters seems to be the single yardstick that has been used to price all the channels.
The channels with a vast coverage and heavy content output have been allowed to be priced as same as some of the less noteworthy channels. While the latter might spend way less on buying rights, the former has to spend a lot more. The solution to the cash crunch lies in advertisement revenue, which on the other hand, causes a pinch in the quality of content. Further on, the higher pricing of the channel discourages the subscribers to watch these channels, causing a subsequent fall in advertising revenue as well.
