larger bouquet for DTH subscribers

[raamkrish]

:thumbsup::yahoo::thumbsup::yahoo:New Delhi: Direct-to-home (DTH) subscribers in the country are all set to get more choice in terms of channel bouquets and pricing. Broadcasters will be offering the same channel bouquets to DTH players that are available in the non-CAS (condition access service) cable homes. For more stories, click hereThey can also offer additional bouquets, according to an announcement made by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Friday. The rates of bouquets and a la carte (standalone) pay channels, on any DTH platform, should not exceed 50% of the rates charged in the non-CAS or non-addressable TV homes. This tariff stipulation is as per the recent Telecom Dispute Redressal Tribunal judgement. So far, DTH players could not offer channel bouquets to its subscribers because members of the industry failed to agree on interconnection terms. Now, with the number of DTH players going up, Trai and broadcasters have been able to resolve the issue of offering bouquets to the direct-to-home platform. A bouquet refers to a group of channels offered by a broadcaster or a distribution platform, to provide more choice to the subscriber and also enable flexi-pricing. Currently, several channel bouquets at various price points are offered across cable TV networks in the country. For instance, Zee-Turner offers as many as six bouquets; Discovery two; Sun group’s Channel Plus eight; Star Den Media Services two; Raj Television two; and one each from Ushodaya, BBC World, ESPN and Neo Sports. In a statement issued on Friday, Trai said that a roadmap had been finalised for speedy conclusion of interconnect agreement between the broadcasters and DTH licencees. “A general consensus has emerged on the composition of bouquets and pricing of a la carte channels and bouquets,” Trai said. DTH operators have been in talks with Trai to fix the price that they have to pay to the broadcasters. DTH players are keen on a system like the one for cable operators in the CAS notified areas in the metros, where Trai has frozen the rates at Rs 5 per pay channel per subscriber. Currently, Dish TV (of the Essel group) and Tata Sky (joint venture between the Tatas and Rupert Murdoch’s Star TV) are the two main DTH players in India. Tamil Nadu-based Sun TV, too, launched its direct-to-home broadcasting service recently. Prasar Bharati also has been running its DTH service (DD Direct Plus), but it is a free-to-air platform. In all, there are between 5 million and 6 million DTH users in the country. Two more players-Big TV and Bharti-are likely to launch their DTH service soon. And, the Videocon group has also got a DTH licence. DTH is a satellite broadcasting system through a extra-large pizza-sized dish and a set-top box, which eliminates the neighbourhood cablewallah. CAS, on the other hand, is a service delivered through a cable operator with the help of a set-top box. Both CAS and DTH are supposed to help consumers pay for the channels that they want to watch. Currently, CAS is effective only in select areas of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, and whole of Chennai. For more stories, click hereOf the 120-million TV households in India, only 70 million have cable connection. DTH is still in its infancy in India, and there’s sufficient room for growth. By the year 2015, 40 per cent of the pay TV universe (cable TV and DTH) are likely to be DTH users, significantly up from around 5 per cent now, according to industry projections.

 

[raamkrish]

TRAI updates bouquet and a-la-carte rates of pay channels in non-CAS areas April 21, 08exchange4media News Service The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has updated the bouquet rates and a-la-carte rates reported by broadcasters regarding their pay channels for cable TV operations in non-CAS area. Earlier, TRAI had amended the Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable) Services (Second) Tariff Order, 2004 (principal Tariff Order) on October 4, 2007, and the amendment made by the said amending order came into effect from December 1, 2007. As per provisions of the principal Tariff Order, as amended by the Eighth Amendment Order, every broadcaster is required to offer all its channels on a-la-carte basis on a non-discriminatory basis to multi-system operators (MSOs)/cable operators for such channels in non-CAS areas. The prevalent bouquets as on December 1, 2007 are required to be offered by the broadcasters. Additional bouquets of channels can also be offered by the broadcasters. Prices of some of the bouquets are as follows: 1. Bouquet 1 pack – Zee Turner Ltd with channels like Zee TV, Zee Cinema, Cartoon Network, Zee Café and Zee Studio, among others, priced at Rs 61.202. Channel Plus’ Bouquet VIII of 16 channels with channels like Sun, Gemini, Udaya, Udaya Music, and Sun News among others, priced at Rs 91.503. Sportscaster and Nimbus have priced Neo Sports Plus at Rs 34, while ESPN and Star Sports come for Rs 33.13 4. Channel [v] has been priced at the lowest with its single channel for just Re 1 Several broadcasters of pay channels had inter alia reported earlier the a-la-carte rates and bouquet rates of their channels to the TRAI. In order to ensure that the MSOs and cable operators get the content in a non-discriminatory manner, the scanned copies of the said reportings, excluding the confidential portions, containing the rates reported earlier by the broadcasters were placed on the TRAI website for information of the stakeholders on January 18, 2008. Subsequently, the regulatory authority had extensive interactive discussion with various broadcasters, who have now voluntarily updated the bouquet rates and a-la-carte rates of their channels for cable TV operation in non-CAS areas. These rates, as reported by the broadcasters, are being placed on TRAI’s website to enable the service providers to have interconnection agreements on non-discriminatory basis among themselves, which would also be beneficial for the consumers and protect their interests. “It should be noted that these published rates are only meant to provide a basis for appropriate interconnection agreements on non-discriminatory basis between broadcasters on one hand and MSOs/cable operators on the other. These rates as published on TRAI’s website should not be taken as approved by TRAI or as rates applicable at the consumer’s end,” maintained TRAI. © exchange4media 2008