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entertainment
Here is what you have to
pay for cable services now
Though the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has come out with a claimer on February
12, 2019 about implementation of new regulatory framework for broadcasting and cable services to
bring down your monthly bill, confusion still prevails among subscribers, writes suman to 31st January 2019. All the Distribution
Tehelka / 28 february 2019 53 www.Tehelka.com
owever, as per the global vice providers, Multi System Opera-
analytical company CRISIL tors (MSOs) and Head end Into The
report, TRAI’s new regime Sky (HITS) operators are collectively
is likely to cost a customer referred as Distribution Platform Own-
H more than what they were ers (DPOs).
paying earlier. According to the report, though the new framework promotes
The Authority was of the view that
the monthly bill can go up by 25 per cent
from 230-240 to 300 for consumers consumer choice and enables the sub-
scribers to pay for what they wish to
who will subscribe to the top ten chan-
view but ‘non-exercise of the option’
nels in terms of viewership.
S.K.Gupta told on February 12 that the should not create any inconvenience
When contacted Secretary TRAI,
to the subscribers. Accordingly, the Au-
thority requests all DPOs to create ‘Best
TRAI had in March 2017, notified the
‘New Regulatory Framework’ for Broad-
exercised their options yet.
casting and Cable services. The new Fit Plan’ for its subscribers who have not
framework came into effect on 29th The ‘Best Fit Plan’ shall be designed
December 2018. However, to provide based on Consumers’ usage pattern and
sufficient time to subscribers for exer- language spoken. It should preferably
cising subscribers to exercising their be a blended combination of various
options, the Authority provided time up
Platform Owners! (DPOs) were required There are around 100
to migrate the subscribers as per their million cable service
choice with effect from 1st February
2019. TV homes and 67
There are approximately 100 million million DTH TV homes
cable service TV homes and 67 million
DTH TV homes in the country. As on in India. 65% of the
February 12, 2019, approximately 65 per cable service users
cent of the subscribers of the cable ser-
vices and 35 per cent subscribers of the and 35% subscribers
DTH services have already exercised the
options. S.K.Gupta observed that it was of the DTH services
brought to the notice of the Authority have already
that as the system of selecting channels/
bouquet by the subscribers had been exercised the options
introduced for first time in the country,
some subscribers are facing difficulties
in selecting the channels/bouquet of Genres, while making ‘Best Fit Plan’ for
their choice. In some cases, LCOs have a subscriber, DPOs should ensure that
not been able to reach out to subscriber payout per month of the ‘Best Fit Plan’
to create awareness among them and generally does not exceed the payout
collect the options. per month of existing tariff plan of the
Some subscribers may be required to subscriber.
go to nearest Point of Sale (POS) for ex- The DPOs should continue to provide
ercising their option as they did not have various user-friendly methods to sub-
access to IT facility or are not comfort- scribers to exercise their choice. These
able in using IT system to exercise their methods may include personal contact
options. A few cases have been reported by Local Cable Operator, calling on Call
recently where pay channels of the sub- Centre Number, using Mobile Apps or
scribers who have not exercised the op- through Website. DPOs should also con-
tions have been deactivated. tinue to generate awareness among the
Such incidences are causing hard- subscribers regarding new Regulatory
ship to the subscribers. He informed framework, its benefits and methods to
that the Direct To Home (DTH) ser- exercise the option to choose the chan-