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Broadcaster Star India has launched its ‘star value pack’ in eight languages to comply with the new tariff regime beginning December 29 in which consumers get to select and pay only for the channels they want to watch.
The Supreme Court’s ruling on October 30 2018, which led to the implementation of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) new tariff order for the broadcast sector, ordered TV broadcasters to announce maximum retail price (MRP) of their channels individually and of bouquets.
“The power of the TRAI ruling is that the pricing is the same for all distribution partners, there is no difference, it is equitable and transparent. Fundamentally, equitability and transparency means more trust in any system. This should help drive a much better and deeper partnership between the distribution partners,” said Sanjay Gupta, managing director at Star India.
Calling it the “biggest shift that the industry could have asked for”, he said that this move implies that the consumer has the choice and that it brings transparency into the system of how content gets created and how content is bought.
However, he said that this would mean that low-performing channels will be under pressure.
The star value pack covers entertainment, movies, knowledge and sports, and will be available in Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and English.
The star value pack will be available at monthly rates of Rs 49 for Hindi, Marathi and Bengali languages, while it will be at Rs 25 for Tamil, Rs 30 for Kannada and Rs 39 each for Malayalam and Telugu.
By including sports in the star value pack, Gupta said the company aims to make it accessible and affordable as “sports has been built on the back of a few customers watching it at a very high price”. He said that premium content events like IPL will also be made available at Rs.49.
In addition to the star value pack, there is a star premium pack as well that includes the star value pack content as well as the “best of international entertainment, movies, lifestyle and marquee sporting events such as Premier League, Grand Slam events and Formula 1”.
While bouquet offerings are crafted for different language-regional preferences with a mix of channels, Star India’s a-la-carte offering allows consumers to subscribe to only what they want to watch.
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