Breaking NTO 2.0 To Be Implemented From 1st February 2023

[RdX]

Anybody have information about Sahara One media operating all channels still Free or their own any paid channel ?

 

[Vadirocks]

You always said Airtel Digital TV has the latest pricing, and you yourself are referring to Tata Sky's pricing. I don't know why. Anyway, this bouquet has 15 channels on Airtel Digital TV. That's where I posted the information from. You can calculate the sum of individual prices of those 15 channels, and it will come to the amount I posted, and the discount will exceed 33%, then you will realize your mistake.

Madras high court order doesn't have any capping on bouquet discounts. Again, you are confused.

I Reckon, Dino Has Gone To Write Book This Time,,,

Don't Know, How Many Pages He Will Come Up With,,,,

 

[satyajeet]

Basically the 1st twin condition is applicable which states that sum of a-la-carte prices of channels included in a bouquet cannot be more than one and half times the price of concerned bouquet.

You can urself do this simple calculation. This bouquet is also complying with 1st twin condition rule

CN-4.25
Pogo-4.25
Total-8.50
Turner kids pack Bouquet price-4.25
So sum of ala carte prices is double of bouquet price. Discount is 50%.
If this is wrong calculation. pls explain how you did this simple calculation.

 

[Siva]

For the purpose of all forum members, especially @dino29 here is some useful information on NTO.

All details you need to know about NTO 2.0 - In this thread, you will also find various RIOs released at the time, because the existing RIOs were expiring by 31st Jan 2020 and a fresh RIOs were to be released. Many mistakenly assumed that those RIOs were following NTO 2.0 as the order was just released in Jan 2020, whereas they were actually released following NTO 1.0 (2017 Tariff Order). @mmadhankumar bro had nicely explained it in his post, which is also present on this thread named Why this new (temporary) RIO necessary

The NTO 2.0 - This is where you will find the details about Twin conditions. This was announced in 2020 January and had never been implemented till date. These twin conditions were there in the Pre NTO era, which is popularly called as old regime, however these were removed in NTO 1.0, as TRAI wanted to have 15% discount cap on bouquets instead of these twin conditions. But, as the discount capping rule was struck down by the Madras HC, the order was left without the most important piece. You can see the detailed analysis in the below thread comparing everything.

Detailed analysis comparing Pre NTO vs NTO 1.0 vs NTO 2.0

So thambi @dino29, it's not only you who spend a lot of time for this type of research. Many others (Including me) do it, and they also spend their valuable time to provide the CORRECT information to the forum members. You need to correct yourself and come back to reality.

 

[dino29]

You always said Airtel Digital TV has the latest pricing, and you yourself are referring to Tata Sky's pricing. I don't know why. Anyway, this bouquet has 15 channels on Airtel Digital TV. That's where I posted the information from. You can calculate the sum of individual prices of those 15 channels, and it will come to the amount I posted, and the discount will exceed 33%, then you will realize your mistake.

Madras high court order doesn't have any capping on bouquet discounts. Again, you are confused.

I said that after Madras High Court struck down the 15% discount cap rule for bouquets TRAI came up with the twin conditions and thereby broadcasters complied by these and came up with amended RIO towards end of 2020 / beginning of 2021...later on Bombay High Court had struck down the 2nd twin condition and Supreme Court ordered status quo to be maintained thus 2020/2021 RIO r still applicable

 

[Siva]

I said that after Madras High Court struck down the 15% discount cap rule for bouquets TRAI came up with the twin conditions and thereby broadcasters complied by these and came up with amended RIO towards end of 2020 / beginning of 2021...later on Bombay High Court had struck down the 2nd twin condition and Supreme Court ordered status quo to be maintained thus 2020/2021 RIO r still applicable

Wrong again. Twin conditions were introduced in NTO 2.0, not before that. The Bombay court order itself was pronounced in Jun 2021, none of the broadcasters complied with the NTO 2.0 before that, as there was unofficial stay till then. Only after the Bombay high court pronounced its verdict, new RIOs were released by the broadcasters, wherein they kept all the driver channel prices very high and kept them out of bouquets. All the RIOs published before that, and are still in place at the DPO end are from NTO 1.0 (With NO discount capping). There have been various versions of NTO 1.0 RIOs and different DPOs might be having different RIO agreements, however, NONE of them have any discount capping or follow the 1st condition of the twin conditions. If this condition is indeed in place, you shouldn't be having even ONE bouquet which is violating this. However, there are so many bouquets with huge discounts even now, the Turner bouquet quoted above by @satyajeet bro is a good example. This won't be possible, if a regulatory order is in place to NOT provide such discounts. Since there is no regulatory rule, such bouquets are still present on the DPO side. Below pictures are from Airtel Digital TV website.

PS: I'm still waiting for you to provide the detailed pricing from Airtel Digital TV website for the SVP Hindi bouquet.

 

[dino29]

Wrong again. Twin conditions were introduced in NTO 2.0, not before that. The Bombay court order itself was pronounced in Jun 2021, none of the broadcasters complied with the NTO 2.0 before that, as there was unofficial stay till then. Only after the Bombay high court pronounced its verdict, new RIOs were released by the broadcasters, wherein they kept all the driver channel prices very high and kept them out of bouquets. All the RIOs published before that, and are still in place at the DPO end are from NTO 1.0 (With NO discount capping). There have been various versions of NTO 1.0 RIOs and different DPOs might be having different RIO agreements, however, NONE of them have any discount capping or follow the 1st condition of the twin conditions. If this condition is indeed in place, you shouldn't be having even ONE bouquet which is violating this. However, there are so many bouquets with huge discounts even now, the Turner bouquet quoted above by @satyajeet bro is a good example. This won't be possible, if a regulatory order is in place to NOT provide such discounts. Since there is no regulatory rule, such bouquets are still present on the DPO side. Below pictures are from Airtel Digital TV website.

PS: I'm still waiting for you to provide the detailed pricing from Airtel Digital TV website for the SVP Hindi bouquet.

Here anna, have a look at this

Article - TRAI advises Star India to maintain status-quo and refrain from pushing non-compliant January RIO

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Monday advised Star India to maintain status-quo as it was prior to January 2020 and withdraw its letter to DPOs vide which non-compliant RIOs have been sought to be... (read full article...) This thread is for the general discussion of the...

dreamdth.com

Star India tried to implement a RIO which had no bouquet price capping and same was not allowed by TRAI.

As i have said twin conditions came into play in 2020 itself but broadcasters were not ready to implement them and delayed it by a long time. Thereafter TRAI had set a deadline for publish revised RIO and ultimately towards end of 2020/beginning of 2021 broadcasters came up with amended RIO. Here is Jan 2020 article publish in forum itself which states that twin conditions were brought in at that time itself and broadcasters were asked to publish revised RIO complying with the same

Article - Broadcasters defy TRAI deadline to publish revised tariffs in line with Tariff Order 2020

Pay broadcasters have defied the deadline set by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) by not publishing their revised... This thread is for the general discussion of the article: Broadcasters defy TRAI deadline to publish revised tariffs in line with Tariff Order 2020. Please add to...

dreamdth.com

Article - TRAI amends 24th July NTO 2.0 directive to extend deadline up to 26th August

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) yesterday extended the deadline for the publishing of Reference Interconnect Offer (RIO) in compliance with NTO 2.0 up to 26th August in line with its submission in front of the... This thread is for the general discussion of the article: TRAI...

dreamdth.com

Here is an article where IN10 media complied with twin conditions and launched new channels and bouquet way back in 2020

IN10 Media reamends RIO to correct NTO 2.0 bouquet formation twin conditions goof up

IN10 Media had initially on 9th March notified a new RIO in order to launch its broadcaster bouquet Apna EPIC Value Pack and Bhojpuri Movie channel Filamchi.

dreamdth.com

Here is article about MSO/DTH operators implementing revised NTO regulations

Article - Multiple MSOs notify NCF in line with NTO 2.0

Multiple Multi-System Operators (MSOs) across the country have notified their new network capacity fee (NCF) in line with NTO 2.0 while few continue to desist from the same. GTPL Hathway, Fastway, DEN Networks, Hathway, KCCL, VK Digital... This thread is for the general discussion of the...

dreamdth.com

Article - Airtel Digital TV corrects anomaly in Multi TV NCF; makes it fully compliant with NTO 2.0

Bharti Airtel’s Digital TV arm Airtel Digital TV on Friday corrected an anomaly in its Multi TV NCF making it fully compliant with the amended regulations (NTO 2.0). Despite having recently revised its NCF in line with... This thread is for the general discussion of the article: Airtel Digital...

dreamdth.com

Article - Dish TV revises NCF in line with NTO 2.0; d2h removes four slabs based NCF

Direct to Home (DTH) operator Dish TV has yesterday revised its Network Capacity Fee to comply with Tariff Amendment Order... This thread is for the general discussion of the article: Dish TV revises NCF in line with NTO 2.0; d2h removes four slabs based NCF. Please add to the discussion here.

dreamdth.com

Article - NXT Digital revises price of curated packs, complies with NTO 2.0

To comply with the amended regulatory framework (NTO 2.0) issued by the Telecom Authority of India Limited (TRAI), NXT Digital has implemented the new tariff order 2.0 effect from March 01, 2020. NXT Digital has revised the... This thread is for the general discussion of the article: NXT...

dreamdth.com

Anyways anna let's end this discussion here as there r far too many complexities involved and at many times for each broadcaster one has to look at different things to decode how and as per what rules they came up with the RIO. As we all know there have been far too many delays, stays, changes and various broadcasters have come up with their RIO and its variants at different times thus it would be complying with rules at play at that time and later went into status quo mode due to constant litigations having been filed in various courts. Also many broadcasters have even complied with NTO 2.0 rules long back and even implemented their concerned RIO across various platforms while others continued with older NTO 1.0 with some adhering to twin conditions and other maybe giving it a miss bcoz of numerous reasons including as i said timing when RIO was filed.

It is too difficult to track each specific case and try to find answers to it. All i can confirm is that disney star would have easily increaed standalone and bouquet prices long back maintaining big gap in discount applicable on bouquet so as to attract subscribers had there been "no capping rule" applicable earlier. They did not do so means there was some limitation else tell me what was stopping them from coming up with the pricing applicable in latest RIO way back in 2020?

Anyways still Tata Play , Airtel Digital TV, Sun Direct still r subscribed to different variant of disney star RIO which can be seen in variations visible in pricing and bouquet composition of disney star channels available on their platforms.

Lets us just await for NTO 2.0 rules to be finally properly implemented though these have been eased out in a big way thus favoring more towards broadcasters but still atleast there is some clarity about implementation. Hopefully later on TRAI will take corrective measures if interest of consumers is not properly met by them.

Till then enjoy watching content on current channels and eagerly look forward to new channels/changes which await in the future both from broadcasters as well as respective operators. If we spend too much time just discussing upon things here then equally we r not getting time to watch tv/OTT or do other important work.

Today from afternoon till evening i purposefully took day off from visiting forum and enjoyed watching lot of content on TV Channels and OTT. It was good refreshing change as in last few months i have spent far too much time reading posts and commenting on the forum and this has really irked me many times as i am missing out on doing so many other things hence from now on have decided to not be so much active kn the forum and limit my comments.

 

[Siva]

TRAI had set a deadline for publish revised RIO and ultimately towards end of 2020/beginning of 2021 broadcasters came up with amended RIO

Only a couple of broadcasters like Jaya Network and IN10, whose presence is almost non-existent at consumer homes came up with the NTO 2.0 compliant RIO, and nobody else. Those too didn't get to the DPOs and Consumers. However, the DPO side of the NTO 2.0, such as reduced Multi TV NCF and increased FTA channel count in the base NCF have come into effect straightaway after Jan 2020, as DPOs didn't challenge the order in court. The articles you quoted about DPOs doesn't have any relevance to the RIOs and bouquet discounts we are discussing.

Anyways anna let's end this discussion here as there r far too many complexities involved and at many times for each broadcaster one has to look at different things to decode how and as per what rules they came up with the RIO. As we all know there have been far too many delays, stays, changes and various broadcasters have come up with their RIO and its variants at different times thus it would be complying with rules at play at that time and later went into status quo mode due to constant litigations having been filed in various courts.

It's good that you decided to end the discussion. I believe you realized your mistake when you looked at the SVP Hindi bouquet at Airtel Digital TV website and also the Turner bouquet images and pricing that were quoted above.

Anyway, this is not as complex as you think. It's very simple. Currently, there is one regulation in place, i.e., NTO 1.0 and that is without any discount capping on bouquets. There are 2 simple rules for the broadcasters in NTO 1.0, if we summarize.

1. For any channel to be part of the bouquet, it must be 19 or below.
2. No discount capping on the bouquet pricing, i.e., you can price your driver channel 10 rupees and offer a bouquet at the same price, i.e., 10 rupees and include the driver channel along with 4 other channels in it.

That's it. All the al-a-carte and bouquets currently on all the DPO platforms are complying to this regulation. None of the RIOs that are currently at the DPO end are violating this.

Also many broadcasters have even complied with NTO 2.0 rules long back and even implemented their concerned RIO across various platforms while others continued with older NTO 1.0 with some adhering to twin conditions and other maybe giving it a miss bcoz of numerous reasons including as i said timing when RIO was filed.

Nope, Not many broadcasters complied with NTO 2.0, like you said. It's only a couple highlighted above and those too didn't reach consumer homes. It wouldn't have made much difference, even if they did reach consumer homes, as the big broadcasters with huge reach, decided not to comply with NTO 2.0. All the big broadcasters like Star India, Zee Network, Sony, etc., are still following NTO 1.0 without any twin conditions or discount cap on bouquets, and are offering their bouquets at huge discounts even today on all the DPO platforms, and these will continue till Jan 31st 2023. So enjoy these low-priced bouquets while they last.

It is too difficult to track each specific case and try to find answers to it. All i can confirm is that disney star would have easily increaed standalone and bouquet prices long back maintaining big gap in discount applicable on bouquet so as to attract subscribers had there been "no capping rule" applicable earlier. They did not do so means there was some limitation else tell me what was stopping them from coming up with the pricing applicable in latest RIO way back in 2020?

Our forum tracks everything, so we are aware of all the changes happened since Pre NTO, NTO 1.0 and now NTO 2.0. The rule in NTO 1.0 was still there that the al-a-carte channel price should be 19 or below to be part of the bouquet. So the broadcasters, if following NTO 1.0, can't increase the al-a-carte prices of driver channels, if they want to keep them in bouquets. Broadcasters wanted this to continue, as they have garnered huge revenue post NTO 1.0 implementation, because of MRP increase to 19 from the pre NTO regime. Pre NTO regime had different price ceiling for different genres. Their ploy was to keep the MRP of 19 for the driver channels and offer other non-significant channels along with the driver channels at an illusionary bouquet pricing with huge discount. This fooled consumers into thinking that they are getting more channels at the same price (or a little bit more) of a single channel. In reality, this was just a ploy to lure consumers into subscribing to all their channels and increase subscriber base and thereby ad revenue as well. It was all explained in this thread Comparison of Pre NTO NTO 1.0 NTO 2.0. I recommend you to go through it when you have time.

However, In NTO 2.0, this price was reduced to 12 and the twin conditions were brought, and the broadcasters didn't like this huge decrease in MRP and also the twin conditions, as this would have adversely/negatively impacted their revenue as they would not have been able to continue following their old ploy, which was to keep the driver channels in bouquets with huge discounts. As consumers would have no longer been getting huge discounts due to the twin conditions, they would have subscribed to only the channels they want through al-a-carte mode, which was the original goal of TRAI for bringing this regulation. So, Disney Star along with the other broadcasters didn't want to implement NTO 2.0 with the lower MRP capping of 12 rupees and the twin conditions, which was why they went to the Mumbai HC to get a stay and later get rid of it totally. However, they were unsuccessful, as the Mumbai HC pronounced the judgment in favor of TRAI in June 2021, except for the 2nd twin condition. After this they had no choice but to comply with the regulation. Though they went to SC for appeal, they had to publish the RIO as they were in contempt of court, if they didn't. So, In order to portray that this regulation is bad for the consumers, they released an RIO with extremely high al-a-carte pricing for the driver channels, and removed them from bouquets. An example of such RIO published by Star India in Oct 2021, i.e., 4 months after the Mumbai HC's judgment is in this thread Star India NTO 2.0 RIO Oct 2021 This was a card well played by them, and TRAI went into panic mode after this, as this would have hugely increased the cable/DTH bills at least in the short term (At least a year) had this RIO come into effect and the consumers would have protested against TRAI. Consumers are already irked that the prices were increased post NTO 1.0. However, TRAI should have let it come into effect and let the market forces decide what happens, as this type of pricing would have forced the consumers to take al-a-carte and the bouquets would have become useless, unless they had very good non-driver channels in them. Broadcasters would have been forced to shut down all those useless non-driver channels. However, that didn't happen, and TRAI backed out (Wouldn't have happened if RS Sharma was still in charge) and went into consultation process again. The result is now another regulation, which benefits broadcasters more than consumers.

Till then enjoy watching content on current channels and eagerly look forward to new channels/changes which await in the future both from broadcasters as well as respective operators. If we spend too much time just discussing upon things here then equally we r not getting time to watch tv/OTT or do other important work

Sure, enjoy your time watching content. However, it's important to conclude the topic with the right note for the forum members.

So I'm stating it again in two simple points below for all the forum members' benefit.

1. The current regulation that is in place is NTO 1.0 with NO discount capping in bouquet pricing. So the bouquets are cheap.
2. From Feb 2023, when the revised NTO 2.0 comes into play there will be a 45% discount capping in the bouquet pricing, thereby increasing the bouquet costs.

Thanks for participating in this discussion.

 

[dino29]

Only a couple of broadcasters like Jaya Network and IN10, whose presence is almost non-existent at consumer homes came up with the NTO 2.0 compliant RIO, and nobody else. Those too didn't get to the DPOs and Consumers. However, the DPO side of the NTO 2.0, such as reduced Multi TV NCF and increased FTA channel count in the base NCF have come into effect straightaway after Jan 2020, as DPOs didn't challenge the order in court. The articles you quoted about DPOs doesn't have any relevance to the RIOs and bouquet discounts we are discussing.


It's good that you decided to end the discussion. I believe you realized your mistake when you looked at the SVP Hindi bouquet at Airtel Digital TV website and also the Turner bouquet images and pricing that were quoted above.

Anyway, this is not as complex as you think. It's very simple. Currently, there is one regulation in place, i.e., NTO 1.0 and that is without any discount capping on bouquets. There are 2 simple rules for the broadcasters in NTO 1.0, if we summarize.

1. For any channel to be part of the bouquet, it must be 19 or below.
2. No discount capping on the bouquet pricing, i.e., you can price your driver channel 10 rupees and offer a bouquet at the same price, i.e., 10 rupees and include the driver channel along with 4 other channels in it.

That's it. All the al-a-carte and bouquets currently on all the DPO platforms are complying to this regulation. None of the RIOs that are currently at the DPO end are violating this.



Nope, Not many broadcasters complied with NTO 2.0, like you said. It's only a couple highlighted above and those too didn't reach consumer homes. It wouldn't have made much difference, even if they did reach consumer homes, as the big broadcasters with huge reach, decided not to comply with NTO 2.0. All the big broadcasters like Star India, Zee Network, Sony, etc., are still following NTO 1.0 without any twin conditions or discount cap on bouquets, and are offering their bouquets at huge discounts even today on all the DPO platforms, and these will continue till Jan 31st 2023. So enjoy these low-priced bouquets while they last.


Our forum tracks everything, so we are aware of all the changes happened since Pre NTO, NTO 1.0 and now NTO 2.0. The rule in NTO 1.0 was still there that the al-a-carte channel price should be 19 or below to be part of the bouquet. So the broadcasters, if following NTO 1.0, can't increase the al-a-carte prices of driver channels, if they want to keep them in bouquets. Broadcasters wanted this to continue, as they have garnered huge revenue post NTO 1.0 implementation, because of MRP increase to 19 from the pre NTO regime. Pre NTO regime had different price ceiling for different genres. Their ploy was to keep the MRP of 19 for the driver channels and offer other non-significant channels along with the driver channels at an illusionary bouquet pricing with huge discount. This fooled consumers into thinking that they are getting more channels at the same price (or a little bit more) of a single channel. In reality, this was just a ploy to lure consumers into subscribing to all their channels and increase subscriber base and thereby ad revenue as well. It was all explained in this thread Comparison of Pre NTO NTO 1.0 NTO 2.0. I recommend you to go through it when you have time.

However, In NTO 2.0, this price was reduced to 12 and the twin conditions were brought, and the broadcasters didn't like this huge decrease in MRP and also the twin conditions, as this would have adversely/negatively impacted their revenue as they would not have been able to continue following their old ploy, which was to keep the driver channels in bouquets with huge discounts. As consumers would have no longer been getting huge discounts due to the twin conditions, they would have subscribed to only the channels they want through al-a-carte mode, which was the original goal of TRAI for bringing this regulation. So, Disney Star along with the other broadcasters didn't want to implement NTO 2.0 with the lower MRP capping of 12 rupees and the twin conditions, which was why they went to the Mumbai HC to get a stay and later get rid of it totally. However, they were unsuccessful, as the Mumbai HC pronounced the judgment in favor of TRAI in June 2021, except for the 2nd twin condition. After this they had no choice but to comply with the regulation. Though they went to SC for appeal, they had to publish the RIO as they were in contempt of court, if they didn't. So, In order to portray that this regulation is bad for the consumers, they released an RIO with extremely high al-a-carte pricing for the driver channels, and removed them from bouquets. An example of such RIO published by Star India in Oct 2021, i.e., 4 months after the Mumbai HC's judgment is in this thread Star India NTO 2.0 RIO Oct 2021 This was a card well played by them, and TRAI went into panic mode after this, as this would have hugely increased the cable/DTH bills at least in the short term (At least a year) had this RIO come into effect and the consumers would have protested against TRAI. Consumers are already irked that the prices were increased post NTO 1.0. However, TRAI should have let it come into effect and let the market forces decide what happens, as this type of pricing would have forced the consumers to take al-a-carte and the bouquets would have become useless, unless they had very good non-driver channels in them. Broadcasters would have been forced to shut down all those useless non-driver channels. However, that didn't happen, and TRAI backed out (Wouldn't have happened if RS Sharma was still in charge) and went into consultation process again. The result is now another regulation, which benefits broadcasters more than consumers.


Sure, enjoy your time watching content. However, it's important to conclude the topic with the right note for the forum members.

So I'm stating it again in two simple points below for all the forum members' benefit.

1. The current regulation that is in place is NTO 1.0 with NO discount capping in bouquet pricing. So the bouquets are cheap.
2. From Feb 2023, when the revised NTO 2.0 comes into play there will be a 45% discount capping in the bouquet pricing, thereby increasing the bouquet costs.

Thanks for participating in this discussion.

Anna Final Conclusion lies somewhere in middle

As i have stated that various broadcasters brought in their NTO 1.0 RIO at different points of time and they adhered to rules as prevalent during that time or complied with bouquet discount capping rule to be on the safer side and avoid any issues. If you can quote broadcasters like Turner India which have not implemented bouquet discount cap rule then i can state various other examples of current RIO of broadcasters which comply with this rule. Already i gave u the example of Star Hindi Value SD pack which is currently available on Tata Play, even the revised Star Value Prime SD available on Airtel Digital TV is compliant to this rule.

If suppose a broadcaster brought its RIO after Madras High Court had struck down 15% bouquet discount cap rule and before Jan 2020 when TRAI mandated that twin conditions should be adhered to in New RIO then it is likely that such bouquet will not have bouquet discount cap rule applicable and they were not violating any rule as applicable during tbis period. Within this period some broadcasters voluntarily applied the bouquet discount cap rule to avoid unnecessary issues which may arise if they decided to give it a miss. TRAI on its part maintained status quo & did not take much coercive action, earlier on its own will to give more time to broadcasters and later based on orders of court or just bcoz case was subjudice.

From Jan 1 2020 when TRAI mandated to broadcasters that if they publish New RIO then same should be compliant with the twin conditions, if broadcasters tried to publish RIO which were non compliant to these rules then TRAI did not allow for implementation of such RIO. I gave u the example in above posts that RIO published by Disney Star in beginning of Jan did not comply with bouquet discount cap and 2nd twin condition hence TRAI advised Disney Star to maintain status quo (continue with old prevalent RIO) and did not allow them to implement New RIO from Feb 2020.

Post March 2020 if broadcasters have come up with New RIO or amended old pre 2020 RIO then all of them have been complaint with initially both the twin conditions and later in some of them 2nd twin condition was dropped and status quo maintained as case was filed in Bombay High Court and hearing on the twin conditions and NTO 2.0 went on. Later until now status quo has been maintained bcoz of various round of litigations and orders of respective High Court, Supreme Court as well as recent round of consultations which started from Feb 2022 when broadcasters withdrew their plea in Supreme Court.


Few broadcasters like IN10, Jaya TV and others have already implemented NTO 2 0 compliant RIO across various platforms while other broadcasters continue with the older RIO which may or may not be compliant with the twin conditions as i have already stated above.


Lastly coming to the bouquet price being less on currently in effect RIO, this is again bcoz of 2 reasons....broadcasters like Turner India have RIO which doea not comply with bouquet discount cap rule and have kept a-la-carte prices of channels high while giving heavy discount on bouquet prices while others like Disney Star have complied with bouquet discount cap rule and they kept bouquet prices lower as if they decided to increase the same then they would have raise a-la-carte prices by some margin to comply with the rules..... As such almost all broadcasters have maintained status quo and many kept new channel launches on hold bcoz of inability to make changes in current RIO as per their liking while few others have launched new channels but these r not part of existing RIO and made available on platforms by paying carriage....There r few broadcasters which have launched new channels and included them in revised RIO/bouquet which complies with twin conditions.

If there was no bouquet discount cap in place then disney star or others would have long back decided to keep standalone channel prices quite high while offering bouquets at heavy discount. Infact had disney star come up with such a RIO in end of 2019 then same would have continued until now but as they voluntary decided to comply bouquet discount cap rule in the RIO which was published in 2019 and later did minor changes to it in 2020 to comply with twin conditions hence same continues until now. In this period of 2 or 3 years they were not able to make major changes in pricing or bouquet composition as per their liking bcoz of reasons i have stated above. If they would have decided to increase prices of bouquet then it would have required corresponding raise in standalone prices to comply with bouquet discount cap rule hence served no purpose....now under latest NTO 2.0 rules they have freedom to increase a-la-carte prices of channels by a good margin and raise bouquet price only by little bit thus widening the gap between them and encouraging people to opt for bouquets.

DPO's already implemented NTO 2.0 regulations long back .

All in all it is a complex thing to decode. I am not wrong about my facts and starting things as they stand right now as well presenting the chronology of events which lead to this.


I agree with u that TRAI should have allowed for New NTO 2.O compliant RIO of broadcasters to be implemented and consumers themselves would have opposed new pricing strategy adopted by broadcasters thus later leading to changes being made. I too feel if Mr. RS Sharma would have continued as TRAI Chairman then things would have been different and we would have seen originally conceptualized NTO 2.0 rules coming into play. He even stopped Disney Star to implement a non complaint RIO way back in Jan 2020

Also just to make it clear Pre NTO there was no such ceiling applicable on prices and all decisions were left upto market forces which is why broadcasters made advance long term agreements with operators and earned good money from it. Operators got channels / bouquets at huge discounted price and added their big profit margins to it and sold the same to us. Operators kept a-la-carte prices extremely high (touching Rs. 70 to 100 for many channels ) so as to force people to opt for bouquets. Even the discounted retention or special packs they brought in for subscribers did not cause any loss to them as they got these channels from broadcasters itself at very low cost

 

[Vadirocks]

Anna Final Conclusion lies somewhere in middle

As i have stated that various broadcasters brought in their NTO 1.0 RIO at different points of time and they adhered to rules as prevalent during that time or complied with bouquet discount capping rule to be on the safer side and avoid any issues. If you can quote broadcasters like Turner India which have not implemented bouquet discount cap rule then i can state various other examples of current RIO of broadcasters which comply with this rule. Already i gave u the example of Star Hindi Value SD pack which is currently available on Tata Play, even the revised Star Value Prime SD available on Airtel Digital TV is compliant to this rule.

If suppose a broadcaster brought its RIO after Madras High Court had struck down 15% bouquet discount cap rule and before Jan 2020 when TRAI mandated that twin conditions should be adhered to in New RIO then it is likely that such bouquet will not have bouquet discount cap rule applicable and they were not violating any rule as applicable during tbis period. Within this period some broadcasters voluntarily applied the bouquet discount cap rule to avoid unnecessary issues which may arise if they decided to give it a miss. TRAI on its part maintained status quo & did not take much coercive action, earlier on its own will to give more time to broadcasters and later based on orders of court or just bcoz case was subjudice.

From Jan 1 2020 when TRAI mandated to broadcasters that if they publish New RIO then same should be compliant with the twin conditions, if broadcasters tried to publish RIO which were non compliant to these rules then TRAI did not allow for implementation of such RIO. I gave u the example in above posts that RIO published by Disney Star in beginning of Jan did not comply with bouquet discount cap and 2nd twin condition hence TRAI advised Disney Star to maintain status quo (continue with old prevalent RIO) and did not allow them to implement New RIO from Feb 2020.

Post March 2020 if broadcasters have come up with New RIO or amended old pre 2020 RIO then all of them have been complaint with initially both the twin conditions and later in some of them 2nd twin condition was dropped and status quo maintained as case was filed in Bombay High Court and hearing on the twin conditions and NTO 2.0 went on. Later until now status quo has been maintained bcoz of various round of litigations and orders of respective High Court, Supreme Court as well as recent round of consultations which started from Feb 2022 when broadcasters withdrew their plea in Supreme Court.


Few broadcasters like IN10, Jaya TV and others have already implemented NTO 2 0 compliant RIO across various platforms while other broadcasters continue with the older RIO which may or may not be compliant with the twin conditions as i have already stated above.


Lastly coming to the bouquet price being less on currently in effect RIO, this is again bcoz of 2 reasons....broadcasters like Turner India have RIO which doea not comply with bouquet discount cap rule and have kept a-la-carte prices of channels high while giving heavy discount on bouquet prices while others like Disney Star have complied with bouquet discount cap rule and they kept bouquet prices lower as if they decided to increase the same then they would have raise a-la-carte prices by some margin to comply with the rules..... As such almost all broadcasters have maintained status quo and many kept new channel launches on hold bcoz of inability to make changes in current RIO as per their liking while few others have launched new channels but these r not part of existing RIO and made available on platforms by paying carriage....There r few broadcasters which have launched new channels and included them in revised RIO/bouquet which complies with twin conditions.

If there was no bouquet discount cap in place then disney star or others would have long back decided to keep standalone channel prices quite high while offering bouquets at heavy discount. Infact had disney star come up with such a RIO in end of 2019 then same would have continued until now but as they voluntary decided to comply bouquet discount cap rule in the RIO which was published in 2019 and later did minor changes to it in 2020 to comply with twin conditions hence same continues until now. In this period of 2 or 3 years they were not able to make major changes in pricing or bouquet composition as per their liking bcoz of reasons i have stated above. If they would have decided to increase prices of bouquet then it would have required corresponding raise in standalone prices to comply with bouquet discount cap rule hence served no purpose....now under latest NTO 2.0 rules they have freedom to increase a-la-carte prices of channels by a good margin and raise bouquet price only by little bit thus widening the gap between them and encouraging people to opt for bouquets.

DPO's already implemented NTO 2.0 regulations long back .

All in all it is a complex thing to decode. I am not wrong about my facts and starting things as they stand right now as well presenting the chronology of events which lead to this.


I agree with u that TRAI should have allowed for New NTO 2.O compliant RIO of broadcasters to be implemented and consumers themselves would have opposed new pricing strategy adopted by broadcasters thus later leading to changes being made. I too feel if Mr. RS Sharma would have continued as TRAI Chairman then things would have been different and we would have seen originally conceptualized NTO 2.0 rules coming into play. He even stopped Disney Star to implement a non complaint RIO way back in Jan 2020

Also just to make it clear Pre NTO there was no such ceiling applicable on prices and all decisions were left upto market forces which is why broadcasters made advance long term agreements with operators and earned good money from it. Operators got channels / bouquets at huge discounted price and added their big profit margins to it and sold the same to us. Operators kept a-la-carte prices extremely high (touching Rs. 70 to 100 for many channels ) so as to force people to opt for bouquets. Even the discounted retention or special packs they brought in for subscribers did not cause any loss to them as they got these channels from broadcasters itself at very low cost