New Delhi: After making it mandatory for all DTH operators to issue a la carte prices of all TV channels, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has provided time till January 31 to shift to the new regulatory framework. All major DTH players including Airtel DTH, Dish TV and Tata Sky have already announced individual pricing of channels.
“Keeping in view consumer convenience and to provide sufficient time to the consumers for exercising the options the Authority provided time upto 31st January 2019,” TRAI said on its website. It has also informed consumers that they have complete freedom to choose their desired 100 Standard Definition (SD) channels within the base pack, the price of which can go upto a maximum of Rs 130, excluding taxes.
You have to shel out extra for every pay channel you include in the list of 100 channels. “The desired channels could be in a Ia carte, free to air channels or pay channels or bouquet of pay channels or any combination thereof. The choice completely rests with the consumers,” TRAI said.
Following this order, all major DTH operators have announced individual pricing of all their TV channels. Consumers can pick any channel they want and pay accordingly. Both Tata Sky and Airtel’s base packs starts from Rs 99 per month. The MRP of each channel has been announced on the service provider’s website as well as on the TV screen’s menu.
Individual pricing shoots above Rs 20 for premium channels like Zee Cinema, Sony, Star Plus, Sony Ten and Star Sports. There are a host of free-to-air channels as well, like DD, 9XM, B4U Music, etc.
Besides individual pricing of TV channels, DTH players are also offering bouquets with multiple channels.
Every cable operator or DTH player has been asked to run a consumer information channel preferably on channel No. 999 wherein consumer-related information including the prices of channels shall be displayed.
“Now it has been noticed that several broadcasters are advertising their channels in the form of bouquets only. However customer may note that they have the option to choose channels a la carte also,” TRAI said.