ON DTH/CABLE REGULATIONS OF TRAI
1. How consumers are benefitted in new regulatory framework for broadcasting and Cable Services?
A consumer becomes a real decision maker in the new regulatory framework. A consumer will have complete freedom to choose what he/she wishes to watch and pay only for that. The framework mandates that every channel will be offered on the a-la-carte basis and the MRP has to be displayed on TV screen through the Electronic Program Guide (EPG).
2.In addition to a-la-carte choice, the broadcasters and Distributors can offer bouquets of channels as prescribed. The price of the bouquet is also required to be published transparently. The consumer can choose pay channels of her/his choice on the a-la-carte basis or in form of bouquets made by Broadcasters as-well-as by the distributors. The new framework provides for complete transparency on Pay Channel pricing structure whereby no distributor can charge above the MRP declared by a broadcaster. All the free to air channels will now be available to subscribers free of cost.
3. The framework stipulates a network capacity fee with upper ceiling of Rs. One hundred and thirty (Rs. 130/-) for one hundred SD (100) channels. Any subscriber who opts for more than 100 channels can choose additional channels in each slab of 25 channels with at a maximum price of @Rs. 20 per slab.
4.Network Capacity Fee’ means the amount, excluding taxes, payable by a subscriber to the Distributor of television channels for distribution of TV channels subscribed by that subscriber and it does not include subscription fee for pay channel or bouquet of pay channels, as the case may be. It is a kind of monthly fixed charge for a service. TRAI has prescribed a ceiling of Rs. 130/- per month for use of network capacity of a distributor for providing 100 channels to a subscriber.
5.It is pertinent to note that the network capacity fee apply to total number of channels subscribed by the subscriber, therefore as the subscriber selects more number of channels over and above the 100 channels, the network capacity fee increases.
6. Presently the consumers are being provided a large number of TV channels, some of which may not be watched by consumers at all. The new framework stipulates that the subscribers will not be pushed with unwanted channels; rather she/ he will have the freedom to choose only those TV channels that they want to see and pay accordingly. if a consumer carefully chooses channels of its choice for the complete requirement of a family, the amount payable by him maybe even less than the present payments being made per month.
7.Some of the probable packs in different markets have been compiled by TRAI and can be seen at www.trai.gov.in. It will be clear from the examples that cost to consumers will not increase. Further some broadcasters with wider presence have reduced the price of their channels recently. The published prices as declared by broadcasters are offered prices and not the final market determined prices. The Authority expects the markets forces to stabilize the prices soon based on economic principles.
8.In case option is not exercised by the consumer, he may be put on the Basic Service Tier pack. The Distribution Platform Owner (Multi System Provider/DTH provider) may adopt appropriate methods to seek consumer options for the Pay Channels or only free to air channels may be continued and pay channels may get disrupted.
9.broadcasters have freedom to form and offer bouquets subject to certain provisions. However, every channel is also to be offered on a-la-carte basis to provide choice to the consumers.
While forming bouquet either by Broadcaster or MSOs or others, following precautions have to be taken:
• Free to Air channel and pay channel cannot be part of same bouquet
• SD and HD variant of same channel cannot be in one bouquet
• Any channel having MRP more than Rs 19/- cannot be part of bouquet
Consumers can subscribe to any number of bouquets as per its choice. Any combination of a-la-carte channels and bouquets is also permitted.
10. FTA channels will be provided completely free in new framework whereas these were charged by different platform providers earlier. The MRP of FTA channels as shown in Electronic Program Guide (EPG) will be ‘free’.
11.Yes, subscriber can choose any channels which are available on the platform of the distributor, either in a-la-carte form or bouquet or combination of both.
12. The basic service tier is only one of the options available to the subscribers. The subscriber has complete freedom to choose any combination of free to air channel and pay channel on a-la-carte or bouquet of pay channels within the network capacity fee.
The consumer will have freedom to deselect any channel available in basic service tier and add Free to Air or pay channels of his choice. It is obvious that, if the consumer chooses a pay channel, the MRP charges will be in addition to network capacity fee.
The basic service tier of 100 channels @ Rs. 130/- (GST extra) includes only network capacity fee and there are no additional charges for free to air channel included in the pack.
The customer may note that Rs. 130/- is the maximum limit. The distributor is free to declare anything lower than Rs. 130/-
13. In case a subscriber has availed any scheme with advance charges paid for future lock-in period like an annual plan the distributor shall continue to provide services for such committed period without any increase in price / charges and without altering the other terms of subscription.
The distributors cannot make any changes that entails any disadvantage to the subscriber in such cases.
14. Please note that Network capacity fee for 100 channels includes FTA channels or Pay channel or combination thereof. Taking FTA channels is the choice of subscriber but not mandatory except the mandatory channels of MIB. If Subscriber chooses pay channels, applicable MRP is payable in addition to the network capacity fee.
15.The Regulation provides a capping of Rs. 130/- as Network Capacity Fee (NCF) for 100 SD channels and Rs. 20/- for the slab of next 25 SD channels. Further, the regulation do not prohibit offering of discount or lower Network Capacity Fee for second/additional connections. However, such discount shall be uniform in the target market area of respective TV channel distributor and duly declared by the DPO (Distribution Platform Operator) on their website.
Under the new framework, the ceiling for Network Capacity Fee has been kept at Rs. 130/- per month. Distributors may charge lower than this amount.
16.Each connection is counted and pay channels are paid as per the number of set top boxes. This is similar to a mobile connection wherein each subscriber in a family takes a separate SIM card and each SIM may have different plans and value added services. In digital addressable system also a similar distinction is applied. However, a distributor can offer reduced charges for the network capacity fee for second or subsequent connection based on their own business case.
17.Benefits For Consumers
A consumer becomes real decision maker of what she/he views and has complete freedom to choose what he/she wishes to watch and pay only for that. It is mandated that all channels have to be offered on a-la-carte basis and the MRP has to be declared. Same way, the MRP of the Bouquet has to be published.
Flexibility has been given to the distributors to drop such channels which do not command reasonable subscription thereby increasing the capacity to carry more channels of consumer choice.
Consumer is not required to pay any subscription fee for a FTA channel if he subscribes to one.
The service providers have been mandated to give full information regarding channel prices on Electronic Program Guide.
Consumer gets clarity of the product offered and is not fleeced by smart packaging. It has been mandated that FTA channels can’t be clubbed with Pay channels in a Bouquet. Further, HD channels can’t be clubbed with the SD version of the same channel, so that the consumer has complete clarity with respect to what is on offer.
18.‘Maximum retail price’ or ‘MRP’ for the purpose of these regulations, means the maximum price, excluding taxes, payable by a subscriber for a-la-carte pay channel or bouquet of pay channels, as the case may be.
MRP declared by the broadcasters will be uniform for every distribution platforms.
19.Maximum Retail Price (MRP) of pay channels declared by broadcasters will be uniform across the country & across all platforms. However, MSOs are free to decide their Distributor Retail Price (DRP) of pay channels and they can also decide different price for their different target market. However, DRP cannot be more than MRP.
20.A Distributor of television channels or its linked local cable operator, as the case may be, may charge an amount not exceeding rupees three hundred and fifty as a one-time installation charge for installation of a new connection for providing the broadcasting services related to television.
A Distributor of television channels or its linked local cable operator, as the case may be, may charge an amount not exceeding rupees one hundred as a one-time activation charge for activating the broadcasting services related to television.
21.Distributor or a cable operator is responsible for maintaining the Set Top Box if the same is provided under rental scheme or Bundled Scheme of STB in a good working condition to ensure uninterrupted services to a subscriber for a minimum period of 3 years. Further it shall be permissible to DTH operator to charge an amount not exceeding Rs 250 as a visiting charge per registered complaint requiring visit of a person to subscriber premises for carrying out repair and maintenance services.
22., subscriber at least 15 days prior to the suspension date should make a request to his Distributor of cable operator for temporary suspension of service. The temporary suspension shall be for a minimum period of 1 month or multiples thereof.
23.No Distributor should discontinue any bouquet or channels in a bouquet by a subscriber during locking period or during period for which advance is paid by the subscriber if all the channels forming part of the bouquet is available on its platform.
24.A subscriber can request for disconnection at least 15 days in advance to the DTH operator. The DTH operator shall disconnect the connection and refund the deposit within 7 days subject to fulfilment of terms and conditions of services.
25.For redressal of complaints, the Distributor shall establish a customer care centre which shall contain toll free customer care number having sufficient number of lines, interactive voice response system having 3 levels. Further, the details of complaints redressal shall be published on its website and also use different means such as SMS, TV scrolls, printing in bills etc.
26.In case a subscriber is not satisfied with the redressal of complaint by the customer care centre, such subscriber may approach the nodal officer of the distributor of television channels for redressal of his complaint. The Nodal officer designated under respective regulations is responsible for-
• Register every complaint lodged by the subscriber;
• Issue an acknowledgement to the subscriber within two days from the date of the receipt of the complaint indicating there in the unique complaint number;
• Redress such complaints of subscriber within ten days from the date of the receipt of the complaint and intimate the decision taken thereon in respect of such compliant to the subscriber.
27.The Broadcaster is akin to a manufacturer producing a product and Distributor of TV channel is like a retailer who sells a product to the consumers. The price of the product is decided by the manufacturer and the retailer cannot sell the product over the MRP. The broadcasters are, therefore, required to declare the MRP of their channel. The Distributors, however, can sell the channel by declaring DRP below MRP.
From the above what can be surmised is that Consumer has choice to select channels he wants to see and no channels can be imposed on him. Secondly FTA become actually free now.
The trick is that consumer just opt for Rs 130 basic which as 100 channels of which 222 to 25 are mandatory DD channels.out of remaining 75 FTA channels he can delist may be for instance 10 channels, and take 10 pay channels so that he is within overall hundered channels. Thus he avoids additional network fee of Rs 20 for exceeding 100 channels and pay mrp for ten pay channels only.
So consumer can reduce his cost like this= 130 + mrp of 10 pay channels + gst 18%.
Thus if one scrupulously select pay channels one can bring down the cost per month.
Morover each month one can change both pay channels and FTA within hundred.
Cost per month goes up if one exceeds 100 channels and that will cause network fee hike.
All put together Consumers stand to benefit due to transparency in cost per channel, no compulsion to take unwanted channels in a bouquet and delist and take channels one wants after each month. more
A consumer becomes a real decision maker in the new regulatory framework. A consumer will have complete freedom to choose what he/she wishes to watch and pay only for that. The framework mandates that every channel will be offered on the a-la-carte basis and the MRP has to be displayed on TV screen through the Electronic Program Guide (EPG).
2.In addition to a-la-carte choice, the broadcasters and Distributors can offer bouquets of channels as prescribed. The price of the bouquet is also required to be published transparently. The consumer can choose pay channels of her/his choice on the a-la-carte basis or in form of bouquets made by Broadcasters as-well-as by the distributors. The new framework provides for complete transparency on Pay Channel pricing structure whereby no distributor can charge above the MRP declared by a broadcaster. All the free to air channels will now be available to subscribers free of cost.
3. The framework stipulates a network capacity fee with upper ceiling of Rs. One hundred and thirty (Rs. 130/-) for one hundred SD (100) channels. Any subscriber who opts for more than 100 channels can choose additional channels in each slab of 25 channels with at a maximum price of @Rs. 20 per slab.
4.Network Capacity Fee’ means the amount, excluding taxes, payable by a subscriber to the Distributor of television channels for distribution of TV channels subscribed by that subscriber and it does not include subscription fee for pay channel or bouquet of pay channels, as the case may be. It is a kind of monthly fixed charge for a service. TRAI has prescribed a ceiling of Rs. 130/- per month for use of network capacity of a distributor for providing 100 channels to a subscriber.
5.It is pertinent to note that the network capacity fee apply to total number of channels subscribed by the subscriber, therefore as the subscriber selects more number of channels over and above the 100 channels, the network capacity fee increases.
6. Presently the consumers are being provided a large number of TV channels, some of which may not be watched by consumers at all. The new framework stipulates that the subscribers will not be pushed with unwanted channels; rather she/ he will have the freedom to choose only those TV channels that they want to see and pay accordingly. if a consumer carefully chooses channels of its choice for the complete requirement of a family, the amount payable by him maybe even less than the present payments being made per month.
7.Some of the probable packs in different markets have been compiled by TRAI and can be seen at www.trai.gov.in. It will be clear from the examples that cost to consumers will not increase. Further some broadcasters with wider presence have reduced the price of their channels recently. The published prices as declared by broadcasters are offered prices and not the final market determined prices. The Authority expects the markets forces to stabilize the prices soon based on economic principles.
8.In case option is not exercised by the consumer, he may be put on the Basic Service Tier pack. The Distribution Platform Owner (Multi System Provider/DTH provider) may adopt appropriate methods to seek consumer options for the Pay Channels or only free to air channels may be continued and pay channels may get disrupted.
9.broadcasters have freedom to form and offer bouquets subject to certain provisions. However, every channel is also to be offered on a-la-carte basis to provide choice to the consumers.
While forming bouquet either by Broadcaster or MSOs or others, following precautions have to be taken:
• Free to Air channel and pay channel cannot be part of same bouquet
• SD and HD variant of same channel cannot be in one bouquet
• Any channel having MRP more than Rs 19/- cannot be part of bouquet
Consumers can subscribe to any number of bouquets as per its choice. Any combination of a-la-carte channels and bouquets is also permitted.
10. FTA channels will be provided completely free in new framework whereas these were charged by different platform providers earlier. The MRP of FTA channels as shown in Electronic Program Guide (EPG) will be ‘free’.
11.Yes, subscriber can choose any channels which are available on the platform of the distributor, either in a-la-carte form or bouquet or combination of both.
12. The basic service tier is only one of the options available to the subscribers. The subscriber has complete freedom to choose any combination of free to air channel and pay channel on a-la-carte or bouquet of pay channels within the network capacity fee.
The consumer will have freedom to deselect any channel available in basic service tier and add Free to Air or pay channels of his choice. It is obvious that, if the consumer chooses a pay channel, the MRP charges will be in addition to network capacity fee.
The basic service tier of 100 channels @ Rs. 130/- (GST extra) includes only network capacity fee and there are no additional charges for free to air channel included in the pack.
The customer may note that Rs. 130/- is the maximum limit. The distributor is free to declare anything lower than Rs. 130/-
13. In case a subscriber has availed any scheme with advance charges paid for future lock-in period like an annual plan the distributor shall continue to provide services for such committed period without any increase in price / charges and without altering the other terms of subscription.
The distributors cannot make any changes that entails any disadvantage to the subscriber in such cases.
14. Please note that Network capacity fee for 100 channels includes FTA channels or Pay channel or combination thereof. Taking FTA channels is the choice of subscriber but not mandatory except the mandatory channels of MIB. If Subscriber chooses pay channels, applicable MRP is payable in addition to the network capacity fee.
15.The Regulation provides a capping of Rs. 130/- as Network Capacity Fee (NCF) for 100 SD channels and Rs. 20/- for the slab of next 25 SD channels. Further, the regulation do not prohibit offering of discount or lower Network Capacity Fee for second/additional connections. However, such discount shall be uniform in the target market area of respective TV channel distributor and duly declared by the DPO (Distribution Platform Operator) on their website.
Under the new framework, the ceiling for Network Capacity Fee has been kept at Rs. 130/- per month. Distributors may charge lower than this amount.
16.Each connection is counted and pay channels are paid as per the number of set top boxes. This is similar to a mobile connection wherein each subscriber in a family takes a separate SIM card and each SIM may have different plans and value added services. In digital addressable system also a similar distinction is applied. However, a distributor can offer reduced charges for the network capacity fee for second or subsequent connection based on their own business case.
17.Benefits For Consumers
A consumer becomes real decision maker of what she/he views and has complete freedom to choose what he/she wishes to watch and pay only for that. It is mandated that all channels have to be offered on a-la-carte basis and the MRP has to be declared. Same way, the MRP of the Bouquet has to be published.
Flexibility has been given to the distributors to drop such channels which do not command reasonable subscription thereby increasing the capacity to carry more channels of consumer choice.
Consumer is not required to pay any subscription fee for a FTA channel if he subscribes to one.
The service providers have been mandated to give full information regarding channel prices on Electronic Program Guide.
Consumer gets clarity of the product offered and is not fleeced by smart packaging. It has been mandated that FTA channels can’t be clubbed with Pay channels in a Bouquet. Further, HD channels can’t be clubbed with the SD version of the same channel, so that the consumer has complete clarity with respect to what is on offer.
18.‘Maximum retail price’ or ‘MRP’ for the purpose of these regulations, means the maximum price, excluding taxes, payable by a subscriber for a-la-carte pay channel or bouquet of pay channels, as the case may be.
MRP declared by the broadcasters will be uniform for every distribution platforms.
19.Maximum Retail Price (MRP) of pay channels declared by broadcasters will be uniform across the country & across all platforms. However, MSOs are free to decide their Distributor Retail Price (DRP) of pay channels and they can also decide different price for their different target market. However, DRP cannot be more than MRP.
20.A Distributor of television channels or its linked local cable operator, as the case may be, may charge an amount not exceeding rupees three hundred and fifty as a one-time installation charge for installation of a new connection for providing the broadcasting services related to television.
A Distributor of television channels or its linked local cable operator, as the case may be, may charge an amount not exceeding rupees one hundred as a one-time activation charge for activating the broadcasting services related to television.
21.Distributor or a cable operator is responsible for maintaining the Set Top Box if the same is provided under rental scheme or Bundled Scheme of STB in a good working condition to ensure uninterrupted services to a subscriber for a minimum period of 3 years. Further it shall be permissible to DTH operator to charge an amount not exceeding Rs 250 as a visiting charge per registered complaint requiring visit of a person to subscriber premises for carrying out repair and maintenance services.
22., subscriber at least 15 days prior to the suspension date should make a request to his Distributor of cable operator for temporary suspension of service. The temporary suspension shall be for a minimum period of 1 month or multiples thereof.
23.No Distributor should discontinue any bouquet or channels in a bouquet by a subscriber during locking period or during period for which advance is paid by the subscriber if all the channels forming part of the bouquet is available on its platform.
24.A subscriber can request for disconnection at least 15 days in advance to the DTH operator. The DTH operator shall disconnect the connection and refund the deposit within 7 days subject to fulfilment of terms and conditions of services.
25.For redressal of complaints, the Distributor shall establish a customer care centre which shall contain toll free customer care number having sufficient number of lines, interactive voice response system having 3 levels. Further, the details of complaints redressal shall be published on its website and also use different means such as SMS, TV scrolls, printing in bills etc.
26.In case a subscriber is not satisfied with the redressal of complaint by the customer care centre, such subscriber may approach the nodal officer of the distributor of television channels for redressal of his complaint. The Nodal officer designated under respective regulations is responsible for-
• Register every complaint lodged by the subscriber;
• Issue an acknowledgement to the subscriber within two days from the date of the receipt of the complaint indicating there in the unique complaint number;
• Redress such complaints of subscriber within ten days from the date of the receipt of the complaint and intimate the decision taken thereon in respect of such compliant to the subscriber.
27.The Broadcaster is akin to a manufacturer producing a product and Distributor of TV channel is like a retailer who sells a product to the consumers. The price of the product is decided by the manufacturer and the retailer cannot sell the product over the MRP. The broadcasters are, therefore, required to declare the MRP of their channel. The Distributors, however, can sell the channel by declaring DRP below MRP.
From the above what can be surmised is that Consumer has choice to select channels he wants to see and no channels can be imposed on him. Secondly FTA become actually free now.
The trick is that consumer just opt for Rs 130 basic which as 100 channels of which 222 to 25 are mandatory DD channels.out of remaining 75 FTA channels he can delist may be for instance 10 channels, and take 10 pay channels so that he is within overall hundered channels. Thus he avoids additional network fee of Rs 20 for exceeding 100 channels and pay mrp for ten pay channels only.
So consumer can reduce his cost like this= 130 + mrp of 10 pay channels + gst 18%.
Thus if one scrupulously select pay channels one can bring down the cost per month.
Morover each month one can change both pay channels and FTA within hundred.
Cost per month goes up if one exceeds 100 channels and that will cause network fee hike.
All put together Consumers stand to benefit due to transparency in cost per channel, no compulsion to take unwanted channels in a bouquet and delist and take channels one wants after each month. more
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View all 37 comments Below 37 comments
From Mr Sree Kumar's post it is still not clear as to how the new system is going to reduce the price/cost in the context of high prices for each of the pay channels. In the earlier systems, the offered channels used to run in hundreds at very low prices with separate cost for different packs with mixture of different areas of interest. Though majority of those channels were not being watched by the subscribers, they had the choice to watch some of them at times without bothering for additional payments. As of now one has to pay additional if he wants to exercise such options any time under any circumstances. According to me, the new system is not at all consumer friendly and was uncalled for. more
Feb 23
While it is very difficult to design a policy and develop a plan and procedure to the satisfaction of each and every individual, there are always black sheep in the system lurking around to find faults and sabotage from within. My approach has always to accept efficiency rate of 85% of any and every service, and leave the remaining for the "being the unequals" that include the illiterates. I absolutely agree with the posting of Shri Sree Kumar, an expert. The question remains how to deal with the black sheep in the system, which is not possible without the active support of the alert and informed consumers. They may give "feedback" to the regulator TRAI, not complaints. See how effective is this formula. more
Feb 22
I have to pay rS.130/- per month for the cable operator's charges. He gives more than 100 channels and will not budge from this. I have taken 19 pay channels which come to Rs.132/- per month. However, I have an HD TV so have paid double the amount for the HD channel which comes up to Rs.132/- Now they are charging me as 29 channels instead of 19 channels because of the HD channels. This is daylight robbery as I have already paid double for the HD channels. For eg. Star plus HD is Rs.19/- but Star plus SD is Rs.10/- so I have paid double and yet I have to pay extra NFC for 29 channels. Can someone pls help me where to complain? Thanks in anticipation. more
Feb 21
Trai has disturbed the Cable & DTH market by implementing higher rates its a game plan of trai and DTH companies. earlier i used to see almost all chanells SD and HD(may be 500 chanells) in Rs 702/- per month. now in Rs 699/- under Mega HD package in which i am getteing only 150 channels. so channel reduced but not the money. all the people are silient DTH operator ealier sell inclusive of all now rates + NFC_ GST which is going higher. This market has been disturbed for Jio DTH Launch as Mr sharma always support Jio and govt too. this time all DTH operator getting share so they are silent. now you will pay higher for few channels then for all channels jio can charge higher like Rs 500/- or Rs 700 /-or Rs 1000/-as of now few people were paying less so jio could not be cheap for consumer. now you pay higher and crying then jio can offer relief at higher prices. even Airtel is not allowing to add channel in current package saying change yr plan or choose throgh a-la-carte basis then price will be higher then its profitable for all DTH service provider, broadcaster and govt through GST. customer is suffering in this entire game plan of Trai. more
Feb 20
