Nearly 20 million viewers opt out of DTH services as bills start to pinch

[dino29]

Right now we are forced to pay more for less. Whereas earlier we were getting everything at lesser cost. I'm forced to not subscribe to English movie, English entertainment and sports channels to keep the cost low.

English Channels r available at lowest cost across broadcasters, sports channels can b taken and dropped as per viewing window of ur choice. Also please do not expect all things free as it again leads to crap content on tv. Price correction is needed not bringing all things to some paisa or Rs 1 or 2

 

[iDJ]

I raised several complaint regarding HD channels counted as 2 SD channels to TRAI. Everytime they revert back to me stating we get superior audio and video quality on HD channels. Seriously, what a brilliant logic they got.

 

[dino29]

Dino bro these new tariff is stupidity at its best. No one opted's for entertainment based on broadcasters. They buy it based on their favourite genres. If one is into sports, one shouldn't be forced to buy useless GEC and movie channels because of discount pricing. Dunno whether customer opted for useless channels before. Now they are sure doing it in the name of broadcasters bouquet.

Earlier this was happening at more rampant scale and costed us more too. Now atleast we have more options and lot less standalone prices. Infact earlier even add on packs were highly priced and one had to go for it bcoz a-la-carte was even worse option. Wait a little TRAI will surely implement bouquet cap rule and other subscriber friendly steps which will solve all major issues. TRAI knows broadcasters r right now using certain loopholes to their advantage

 

[dino29]

Nobody subscribes more than that due to the abnormal pricing. In fact TRAI’s own analysis for introducing this order stated, an average consumer doesn't switch more than 50 channels using the TV remote. But they introduced the NCF slab at 100 channels and capped it at 130 which is way too high. I keep saying this, the NTO is just worthless without 15 percent rule. People can't subscribe al-a-carte at current exorbitant rates, even if they want to. Immediate steps should be to cap channel MRP at 10 rupees, and NCF at 80-100 rupees. And another joke in the NTO is HD channel is counted as two slots in the NCF whereas MRP is same for SD and HD, what a joke!

No need for TRAI to fix channel MRP as 15% discount cap rule will automatically lead to stabilization. Also regarding NCF well they took into account bandwidth utilised by SD or HD channel for calculating amount applicable, anyways it will see corrections soon alongwith DD channels given complimentary and all slots vacant for us to exercise choice

 

[iDJ]

Earlier this was happening at more rampant scale and costed us more too. Now atleast we have more options and lot less standalone prices. Infact earlier even add on packs were highly priced and one had to go for it bcoz a-la-carte was even worse option. Wait a little TRAI will surely implement bouquet cap rule and other subscriber friendly steps which will solve all major issues. TRAI knows broadcasters r right now using certain loopholes to their advantage

When? 6 months already gone. A cable operator even committed suicide.
TRAI to act against DTHs & MSOs on roadblocks
Many niche channels are shutting down. Almost no one is happy with this current plan. Nor the DPO, customers and broadcasters. 18% GST is also too much.

Many poor families cannot afford to go out for entertainment. Their only stress relief and source of entertainment is television which TRAI is taking away from them. Cable and DTH of ₹100-₹200 were too much for them. Now they have to pay double of that. Poor people mostly watches television nowadays. Rich ones got multiplex, OTT, video games.

 

[amarnathkvk]

what is 15% discount cap rule?

 

[Siva]

No need for TRAI to fix channel MRP as 15% discount cap rule will automatically lead to stabilization. Also regarding NCF well they took into account bandwidth utilised by SD or HD channel for calculating amount applicable, anyways it will see corrections soon alongwith DD channels given complimentary and all slots vacant for us to exercise choice

19 rupees is too much for an SD channel. TRAI must reduce that to 10 rupees. And yes, I'm hopeful that the 15 percent rule will bring some stability in this pricing. In terms of SD and HD, right now it doesn't make any sense to pay double NCF for an HD channel. The price should also have reflected the same then. How on earth an SD and HD channel can cost the same MRP!!

Many poor families cannot afford to go out for entertainment. Their only stress relief and source of entertainment is television which TRAI is taking away from them. Cable and DTH of ₹100-₹200 were too much for them. Now they have to pay double of that. Poor people mostly watches television nowadays. Rich ones got multiplex, OTT, video games.

Cable operators are scamming people in rural and village areas. I have spoken to several people. They don't even know that they can select their own channels. Bouquets are pushed down their throat and they are paying more than what they should, even though they don't watch many channels that are being given to them by such DPOs. They have no idea that they can get an HD channel at the same cost as an SD channel. They are just thinking the charge that's fixed by the DPO is the minimum that they need to pay and they don't have any choice. This is just a complete mess created by TRAI and they should realize and clean it up sooner than later!

 

[dino29]

When? 6 months already gone. A cable operator even committed suicide.
TRAI to act against DTHs & MSOs on roadblocks
Many niche channels are shutting down. Almost no one is happy with this current plan. Nor the DPO, customers and broadcasters. 18% GST is also too much.

Many poor families cannot afford to go out for entertainment. Their only stress relief and source of entertainment is television which TRAI is taking away from them. Cable and DTH of ₹100-₹200 were too much for them. Now they have to pay double of that. Poor people mostly watches television nowadays. Rich ones got multiplex, OTT, video games.

Soon, soon... Earlier TRAI avoided interfering bcoz already there had been years of delays in implementing new tariff order bcoz of court cases. They did not further contest 15% bouquet discount cap issue in court bcoz it would have led to further stay or complexities. Right now they r studying all aspects and hearing views from all stakeholders in order to address concerns. Things cannot be changed just overnight, if TRAI does it based on own views then again court disputes will happen.

Also I can understand unhappiness of DPO and subscribers but broadcasters r themselves responsible for inflated standalone prices thus creating issue. Also MSO or DTH operators r unhappy bcoz earlier long term fixed deal discount price option is not there anymore and profit has shrunken... Also other factors which have been looked into and mended. Eventually its a fair game now for all operators and to increase revenue price and content need to be proper

 

[dino29]

19 rupees is too much for an SD channel. TRAI must reduce that to 10 rupees. And yes, I'm hopeful that the 15 percent rule will bring some stability in this pricing. In terms of SD and HD, right now it doesn't make any sense to pay double NCF for an HD channel. The price should also have reflected the same then. How on earth an SD and HD channel can cost the same MRP!!

Cable operators are scamming people in rural and village areas. I have spoken to several people. They don't even know that they can select their own channels. Bouquets are pushed down their throat and they are paying more than what they should, even though they don't watch many channels that are being given to them by such DPOs. They have no idea that they can get an HD channel at the same cost as an SD channel. They are just thinking the charge that's fixed by the DPO is the minimum that they need to pay and they don't have any choice. This is just a complete mess created by TRAI and they should realize and clean it up sooner than later!

Well 15% cap rule is bound to bring standalone price down as price of bouquet will be based on that itself. If broadcasters keeps standalone prices high then bouquet becomes extremely expensive by many times as compared to what it is now .

Also regarding 2nd point, mess is created by operators not TRAI. If rules are not being followed then regulator cannot be blamed for it entirely, all i hope is that TRAI penalizes those violating rules. Also this is not new , earlier broadcasters complained of under reporting subscriber base from cable operators side and piracy was another major issue.

 

[Tony Sehgal]

Earlier if we subscribed to HD channel, we used to get same SD channel by default. This was going on for so many years. Now suddenly we are talking about bandwidth utilisation.