‘Tariff order will benefit price-sensitive cable, DTH consumers’

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Wednesday said that monthly cable TV bills of subscribers have come down 10-15 per cent for metro subscribers, and about 5-10 per cent down for subscribers in non-metro towns. This has come about after the new broadcast tariff order kicked in from February 1.

The claim on savings is based on a preliminary analysis of data submitted by a few large Distribution Platform Operators (DPOs) to TRAI.

Speaking to reporters, TRAI Chairman R S Sharma said: “The overarching principle of the new broadcast regulatory framework is to empower consumers, bring in transparency in the system and ensure there is non-discrimination among platforms to ensure there is fair competition in the sector. This will lead to actual market forces coming into play, and as a consequence, we expect price-sensitive consumers to see a drop in their monthly bills.”

S K Gupta, Secretary, TRAI added: “In the past four weeks, about 27 broadcasters have reduced prices of their 148 channels due to the current market dynamics. We expect prices of channels to go down in the next three months.”

The regulator also strongly contested claims made by a recent CRISIL report, which stated that the new regulatory framework is likely to increase monthly TV bills. Sharma said that the report has been based on ‘unrealistic and wrong assumptions’. TRAI said the report has been prepared with an inadequate understanding of the TV distribution market, and argued that it is unlikely that a single household will opt for channels across multiple regional language — including Tamil, Hindi, Bangla and Telugu channels — simultaneously.

The regulator stated that data sourced from two leading DPOs, which have subscribers across the country, indicate that there have been reduction in TV bills both in metro and non-metro regions.

Asked if the regulator is concerned that in a bid to push unwanted channels, broadcasters have priced their channel packs at a cheaper price compared to a-la-carte prices, Gupta told BusinessLine , “We are carefully monitoring these developments. This is just the initial stage of the implementation of the regulatory framework. Once the market settles down and if there is a need for an intervention in this regard, we will look into the issue.”

Focus on migration

Talking about the implementation of the new regulatory framework, Sharma said that the progress of migration to the new regulatory framework is satisfactory. “We have received complaints from consumers regarding blackout by one service provider and there are concerns regarding long duration packs and pricing for multi-TV households. We have issued suitable directions to the DPOs to solve these grievances,” he added.

As far as the multi-TV households are concerned, TRAI has said that each of the STB connection should be allowed to subscribe to separate set of TV channels. The regulator has also asked platform operators to declare their special schemes and plans for households with multiple TV connections within two days. As per the regulations, service providers can choose to offer discounts or even waive-off Network Capacity Fee on the second connection in a household. TRAI said it will intervene if service providers adopt consumer unfriendly practices in this regard.

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