New cable TV Tariffs to put a hole in your pocket!

Are you saving money with this New TRAI rule?

  • Yes (Saved more than ₹100/mo)

  • No (My bills have increased)

  • Don't see any change! I pay the same

Results are only viewable after voting.
I think it is a good move for consumers like me not withstanding the Madras HC verdict. All I care about are 5 regional channels 2 sports channels ( only those that are actually live casting sports of my interest), 2 Indian News Channels, 2 global new channels, 6 Infotainment channels ( I will probably skip them if they re expensive as I already subscribe to Hotstar Premium and SonyLiv). I currently pay Rs 605 pm for many dumb channels that I do not even watch.

I only hope that Tata Sky does not charge separately for HD access as I can now subscribe to HD channels a-la-carte and they are priced more than their SD version.

The icing on the cake will be when the 15% cap on bouquet pricing kicks in.
 
Broadcasters are offering bouquets with discounts as high as 82% vs a-la-carte price of bundled channels. This shows what is the real worth of bundled channels. The biggest looser will be smaller networks, those having only 5-6 premium channels under them. To keep the total monthly cost low, a subscriber may only for bouquets by bigger networks ( star/zee sony) and skip smaller networks totally.
This new tariff order, intentions might be good, is another half baked- unplanned idea.
 
What TRAI said was, price the channels individually, don't offer channels in packs. That has been going on for years now. If some channel gains populariy, say a WWE broadcasting channel, they will start another 5 channels, bundle them as a pack and offer it to consumers or providers. In effect, the consumer is forced to pay for channels they don't care or use.

Another of TRAIs directive is that channel owners should give the same price for all providers ie, Airtel DTH cannot have a lower price than Videocon DTH. If someone is selling Sony TV to DTH in India, it should be offered on a single price for all DTH providers.

Obviously DTH and cable provider corporates want to sabotage this. They are using their resources to spread what TRAI chairman calls " fear of the unknown ".
 
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bssunilreddy said:
I was paying 500 per month for tatasky d2h deluxe pack which consists of all south channels, english movies, sports. But later shifted to hathway and am paying 250 now for the same amount of channels offered by tatasky d2h.
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Exactly the same..
My hathway just doesnt shows StarMovies channel (which has most good movies, rest all the same at half the price of tata sky)
 
raksrules said:
I may have to continue using "TV" Like I use in US currently. Just need to have proper Internet connection.
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I am already doing it since last 5 + years. Not recharged my Tata Sky from last 3 years.

Looking at the bigger picture I sense they are changing the game rules to suit JIO. Just like they did with LTE. Since everything on LTE was data they could do with free calls cross network too without anyone objecting technically. Now with JIO fibre launching and already acquired DEN + Hathway. JIO is now in a position where they can launch their services at a mega scale in big cities. What they would do is instead of normal D2H or normal cable (MSO) service provider they will bundle JIO TV as a IPTV service and look to bypass all current TRAI tariff rules and create havoc in the market again.
 
onlyravi said:
...Looking at the bigger picture I sense they are changing the game rules to suit JIO. Just like they did with LTE...
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And people still don't believe that there is collusion and ambani owns/runs the country...

Btw, according to make in india guideliness, everyone should watch only ekta kapoor saas bahu serials etc. Ok i'll allow sacred games. Rest narcos/chapo wapo sab choddo bhai...
 
skoka123 said:
I think it is a good move for consumers like me not withstanding the Madras HC verdict. All I care about are 5 regional channels 2 sports channels ( only those that are actually live casting sports of my interest), 2 Indian News Channels, 2 global new channels, 6 Infotainment channels ( I will probably skip them if they re expensive as I already subscribe to Hotstar Premium and SonyLiv). I currently pay Rs 605 pm for many dumb channels that I do not even watch.

I only hope that Tata Sky does not charge separately for HD access as I can now subscribe to HD channels a-la-carte and they are priced more than their SD version.

The icing on the cake will be when the 15% cap on bouquet pricing kicks in.
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Same here. What I find funny is that for South ie Sun Network - the SD and HD channels are exactly the same. With network charges separate, why the f*** should I pay more for HD?
 
onlyravi said:
I am already doing it since last 5 + years. Not recharged my Tata Sky from last 3 years.

Looking at the bigger picture I sense they are changing the game rules to suit JIO. Just like they did with LTE. Since everything on LTE was data they could do with free calls cross network too without anyone objecting technically. Now with JIO fibre launching and already acquired DEN + Hathway. JIO is now in a position where they can launch their services at a mega scale in big cities. What they would do is instead of normal D2H or normal cable (MSO) service provider they will bundle JIO TV as a IPTV service and look to bypass all current TRAI tariff rules and create havoc in the market again.
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Healthy for consumers havoc for other players Airtel etc.
 
RS4 said:
What kind of paranoia is this? Yes Ambani and Modi have conspired in this, hopefully Mr. Raul will help you out next year, not much time, so why worry?

Now if you are serious then read the TRAI order on this, it is a 2 pages document, it was meant to be pro-consumer directive but Madras High Court struck down the most important clause which would have kept prices of a la carte channels in check, there was this 15% rule by which the Broadcasters cannot keep more than 15% differential pricing difference between package bundle and a la carte But broadcasters got it struck down in Madras High court and Trai appealed in Supreme Court which is in vacation now, so it will take another two months for a verdict to come.

This directive would have been pro-consumer, somewhat pro-broadcaster and totally anti-DTH, so your biggest villain Jio, Tata Sky are the biggest losers in this as they lost all the pricing power. Earlier these distributors used to bargain a set price like 2000 crore for say Sony then distribute amongst all BUT now its per subscriber fee based, so services like Tata, Jio lost all the power.

After the Madras High Court verdict, Broadcaster got all the win but that will be shortlived as TRAI will get back at them in Supreme Court to restore the original TRAI directive with that 15% clause. So, Pro-consumer stuff will balance out the Broadcaster Bandits and the only loser will be people like Tata Sky, Airtel, Jio etc.
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Sorry for that paranoia. Its a undeniable fact that India is ambani-fied.

So there that R stamp in all the Govt policies, wherever these ppl are involved
 
rushab_rdx said:
This is what you think.
And what you think isn't always true :)
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Actually, he is not wrong either. When ambani wants something, thanks to the enormous money that he has, politicians can move heaven and earth for him. Its safe to say Reliance is to India as Samsung is to South Korea.
 
vivek.krishnan said:
Actually, he is not wrong either. When ambani wants something, thanks to the enormous money that he has, politicians can move heaven and earth for him. Its safe to say Reliance is to India as Samsung is to South Korea.
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Won't disagree. And this is problem with most countries no matter what government it is! Money does all the magic whichever side of the world you are. What I'm saying is blaming it on the government (ANY) Is not a solution. In the end they need funds to run elections and we all know where the funds come from :) in the end we middle class common people are the ones that are screwed as always and will continue to do so.
 
It seems like my Tata Sky DTH bill will come down drastically to less than Rs 300 from the current Rs. 615. This includes the Rs 130 for the 100 channel network capacity fee. I am not sure if people took the time to go through the trai order which I am attaching to this post.

Basically we get to choose what 100 channels we want to subscribe to. It could be FTA or Paid. If it is paid then you will have to pay the cost of the pay channel as given by your DTH/Cable provider. In case you choose an HD channel then it is counted as 2 channels worth of network capacity. Hence, I think there is no case for Tata Sky to charge additional HD Access Fee.

In case you want to view more than 100 channels then you can buy blocks of network capacity of 25 channels for additional Rs 20.

If you have multiple TV connections then you will have to pay again for the second TV. It is similar to a second SIM in your mobile or family. You will have to pay and get to choose a combination of channels individually for each TV.
 

Attachments

You may have to pay more for cable and DTH services in 2019


Customers will have to pay Rs 130 plus taxes for the first set of 100 channels once the new rate card becomes effective, and this does not include famous networks like Zee, Star India and Sony.

Under the new regime, customers will have to pay Rs 450 for basic Hindi channels, if they opt for bouquets, which are discounted nearly 35-40 percent. If they buy channels individually, it could cost them over Rs 800.

"One can expect phase 1 and 2 subscribers to pay more but convincing price sensitive phase 3 and 4 to cough up extra for TV services, who are currently paying Rs 200-250 per month, will be a challenge," Vivekanand Subbaraman, analyst at Ambit Capital, told the paper.

Metro cities fall under phase 1, while cities with a population over 1 million are phase 2 markets. Cities with a population over 1 lakh form phase 3 markets and cities with less than 1 lakh population make up phase 4, according to TRAI guidelines.

With this move, TRAI intends to give the customers a choice and does not want cable and DTH operators to show customers channels they don't want to watch. The regulator aims to make the broadcast framework transparent and fair with the new regime.
 
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skoka123 said:
If you have multiple TV connections then you will have to pay again for the second TV. It is similar to a second SIM in your mobile or family. You will have to pay and get to choose a combination of channels individually for each TV.
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I am waiting for the equivalent of cableCARD where I can choose card to put on STB of my choice.
 
We can see the prices on the respective websites of the broadcasters but I don't see same pricing on service provider websites. How to actually subscribe to these new packs? My monthly outgo might reduce by 200 bucks going by the prices listed by broadcasters.
 
rdst_1 said:
We can see the prices on the respective websites of the broadcasters but I don't see same pricing on service provider websites. How to actually subscribe to these new packs? My monthly outgo might reduce by 200 bucks going by the prices listed by broadcasters.
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Mine too. Only watch cricket and Tarak Mehta so man it's going to drastically reduce will save me money! I think youll see them after 28th or 29th as per the ads that are being shown!
 
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