Pay channels @ Rs 5/month
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has fixed a ceiling of Rs 5 per month on pay channels in CAS areas.
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has fixed a ceiling of Rs 5 per month on pay channels in CAS areas. There will be a cap of Rs 77 per month on pricing of free-to-air (FTA) channels.
The operators will have to provide at least 30 FTA channels. The new tariff order will drastically reduce the cable bill in Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai, where CAS will be implemented from January 1.
“Operators can offer alternative tariff packages in addition to the mandated standard tariff package,” said TRAI.
Currently, cable charges in Delhi vary from Rs 200-350 per month. If a customer subscribes to 20 pay channels besides FTA channels, then he will have to pay only Rs 177 per month plus the service tax from January 1.
Therefore, cable bill may come down for the subscriber. If broadcasters decide to lower the charges further then the prices will fall further.
TRAI said it had decided to go for a ceiling on channel pricing as it found the rates reported by the broadcasters to be ‘too high’. Hence, it has fixed a general ceiling on MRP. The individual pay channel prices are to be fixed within this ceiling.
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Broadcasters and multi-system operators are, however, allowed to form bouquets and provide discounts, apart from providing pay channels on a ‘a-la-carte basis’. This way the customer will have a good range to choose from.
Currently, broadcasters charge much higher prices for pay channels. For instance, Star quoted a wholesale price of Rs 24 for its driver channel Star Plus, Rs 20 for ‘Star Movies’, Rs 14 for ‘Star World’ and Rs 10 for ‘Star Gold’.
On the other hand, Sony had quoted a wholesale price of Rs 24 for its main channel, Rs 20 for ‘SET Max’ and Rs 15 for English movie channel ‘Set Pix’. Zee had quoted a wholesale price of Rs 26.75 for Zee TV, Rs 10.7 for Zee Trendz and Rs 21.04 for ‘Zee Movies’.
As the prices reported by the broadcasters for the pay channels were generally stated to be wholesale prices, retail prices applicable to subscribers would be higher than this, said TRAI.
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In case of bouquets, the broadcasters charge much lower rates. For instance, a bouquet of eight channels is priced at Rs 67 per month. The retail prices quoted were among the highest by ESPN at Rs 40.8 and Rs 40.8 for Star Sports per month if the subscription was for one year.
The new price of Rs 5 per month could be a set back for broadcasters. However, cable operators have been under-reporting subscriber figures, paying the channels subscription fees far lower than those warranted as per the declared tariffs and sharing the saving with the consumers. Cable operators have thus been able to offer all the channels at lower rates of about Rs 200 per month.
“To provide some stability to the revenues of the broadcasters, it has also been provided that the MRPs will apply only where the subscription is for a minimum period of four months,” said the regulator.
In case, a broadcaster plans to convert an FTA channel to pay channel, it will have to give a minimum of one-month notice to the subscribers.
For set-top boxes (STB), the operators will have to compulsorily offer two schemes to subscribers as part of a standard tariff package. One scheme carries a monthly rental of Rs 30 per digital STB plus a refundable deposit of Rs 999 per box (refund will be made after deducting Rs 12.50 per month for use of the STB).
The other package has a monthly rental of Rs 45 per digital STB (Rs 23 if it is an analogue STB) with a refundable deposit of Rs 250 per box which will be given after deducting Rs 3 per month for use of the STB.
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