Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) yesterday published its new Reference Interconnect Offer (RIO) which will be applicable from 1 February 2020. The broadcaster has announced the revision of a-la-carte rates of a few of its channels along with major changes to its existing bouquet offerings. It is pertinent to note that these changes are in no way related to the TRAI Tariff Order amendment released on 1st January.
The amended Tariff Order will come into action on 1st March whereas existing signed RIOs will expire on 31st January which will force DPOs to sign new RIOs for February. These rates will go live on 1st February and will remain valid until the amended Tariff Order comes into play.
DreamDTH compared the earlier version of SPN RIO with the newer version RIO. The changes are listed below.
Sony Pictures Network Revised A-la-carte Rates
SPN has revised the ala-carte MRP of 9 of its channels. AXN MRP has been increased to Rs 5 from Rs 3. Six, TEN 2, TEN 3, TEN 2 HD, and TEN 3 HD will now cost Rs 19.
Max 2 MRP has been increased by Rs 1 to Rs 2. Mix MRP has been slashed from Rs 1 to Rs 0.10. The last change is of Sony BBC Earth MRP which has been reduced from Rs 4 to Rs 2. The channel has faced low TRP issues in the new Tariff Order era due to poor packaging of the channel in bouquets.
Sony Pictures Network Revised Bouquet
The broadcaster has made major changes to its bouquet offerings. While earlier it was offering 29 bouquets now it will be offering 31 broadcaster bouquets. It is now offering 17 SD bouquets and 14 HD bouquets. Earlier it was offering 19 SD bouquets and 10 HD bouquets.
Most of the bouquets have undergone price hike along with name change. Happy India South Platinum 33 and Happy India 31 B are the 2 SD bouquets discontinued. Happy India South 25 is now renamed as Happy India South 33 with a price hike of Rs 8. The renaming of the bouquets has left it hard to identify the changes. Happy India Marathi 80, Happy India Bangla HD 80, Happy India Hindi HD 80 and Happy India Bangla HD 70 are likely to be the new HD bouquets.
Sony BBC Earth, Sony Yay, TEN 3, TEN 2, Pal, Max 2 and TEN 3 HD have been added to certain existing packs. Sony BBC Earth, TEN 3 and TEN 2 have been added to these bouquets with the aim to increase the channel penetration and TRP rating. Interestingly the broadcaster has left its sports channel Sony ESPN out of all its bouquets. The price hike is in the range of Rs 10-Rs 15.
The broadcaster now is left with 12 days to declare its new pricing in line with TRAIs amended Tariff Order which was released on 1st January. What is your opinion on the price hike by SPN and its new bouquet packaging? Let us know your point of view in the comments section!
