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Dish TV users will soon have the option to pay only for the channels which they want to watch.
The largest Direct-to-Home (DTH) player is set to unveil this new initiative which will allow its consumers to unsubscribe channels that they do not wish to watch from their subscription packs.
The new scheme will classify in batches most of the channels available in a subscription pack as ‘request only basis’. In other words, these channels will be available only if the subscriber requests for them.
Once a consumer selects a subscription pack, he/she will be given a period of four to five weeks to select whether they want to watch these ‘request only basis’ channels. At the end of the period, subscribers who have not sent their request will not receive the channels. This can be done through an SMS.
R. C. Venkateish, CEO, Dish TV, said, “We expect our content costs to come down significantly through this scheme over a period of time and we can also pass on the benefits to the consumer.”
He said if a consumer gets 300 channels, chances are he does not have time to watch nearly 200 of these channels, but service providers are forced to carry all unwanted channels since aggregators offer them under packages. This is where this scheme will come handy, he added.
Dish TV will also award 100 bonus points (worth Rs 100) for every unrequested channel that the subscribers can use to pay for movies on demand or their choice of channels.
It is also taking on the content aggregators through this initiative who bundle popular and less popular channels and ask the service providers to carry the entire bouquet. Dish TV also expects to earn additional revenue by charging carriage fee from channels who wish to be part of a subscription pack even after subscribers have decided not to request for these channels. He said this carriage fee will compensate for the extra bandwidth consumption.
“This new initiative will free up the bandwidth. It will also help the company have a model to earn additional revenues through carriage fees. We have already circulated a rate card to all broadcasters for carriage services,” he added.
In the past, telecom and broadcaster regulator TRAI has also been pushing for more choice and options for viewers.
The subscriber base of the DTH service provider was 16 million at the end of second quarter in this fiscal.
meenakshi.v@thehindu.co.in
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