Well nothing is permanent. Those who have moved away will come back as soon as they find TV option better again. Also timing is fine for testing the effects of reduced price as in festive season TV consumption sees upward trend.
They should have had affordable prices from beginning but as i have said they were not in favour of it thinking it will impact reach and revenue. In meetings with TRAI this test run must have been planned. Do not worry auto correction will happen for prices, content and other things related to operators too
Not true. Channels, especially GEC, are a matter of habit. If I can live without seeing the programs on Star Plus for 2 months, I can live for 10 years also. Because in those two months, I have developed new habits of watching new programs on rival channels. It's like a girlfriend dumping a guy, who then finds a new girlfriend. Now, if the first girlfriend tries to attract the fellow again, it may not work as she expects.
I'll give an example of my parents, who used to watch Asianet and Surya. Ever since the NTO was rolled out, I cut Asianet and Surya (and all channels priced above Rs 8 per month).
Now they are very happy watching Manorama, Zee Malayalam and Flowers (Flowers too may have to be cut soon). Nobody misses Asianet and Surya.
Btw, when I cut the channels, they asked why the channels were not coming, and I said, if you want those channels, we'll have to spend a lot of money extra, and they were quite supportive.
PS: I'll think about adding Asianet if they price the channel at 6 rupees or below. Otherwise, it's simply not worth it. Nothing special in it.
PS2: I've added Surya because Sun has started giving a pack of 4 or 5 channels for around Rs 20, which includes Surya. But Rs 50 for Malayalam value pack is too much, given that the only channels that we used to watch in that value pack is Asianet, Asianet Plus etc. Even if Star gives all their channels for Rs 50, it's not viable for me, because my parents don't watch any other Star channel, and I don't see why I would pay Rs 50 for 2-3 channels.