Trai asks DTH players to cut rates by April 4

[sushil_sh]

In a move that will lower the bill of the five-million direct-to-home (DTH) consumers by 5-8 per cent, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has asked channels to reduce the bouquet rates on DTH platform by April 4. The move will affect the subscription revenue of Star TV, Zee Group, Sony-One Alliance, Sun Network, ESPN-Star Sports, among others, who will have to significantly reduce prices for selling signals to DTH players. However, this will help DTH operators lower the subscription fees. The average monthly fees per subscriber is about Rs 250 at present. According to Trai’s pricing formula for broadcasters, pay channels can charge DTH operators up to 50 per cent of the per subscriber rates they charge from the cable operators in the rest of the country (non-CAS homes). This means that if Star TV’s bouquet of 14 channels is priced at Rs 88 in non-CAS areas (70 million cable TV homes), it can charge only Rs 44 or less from existing DTH operators like Tata Sky, Dish TV and new entrants like Big TV, Bharti and Sun Direct. But all broadcasters are charging more from DTH companies than from non-CAS cable homes. Explaining this industry analyst said: “As DTH platform is digital, there is 100 per cent collection of fees, while in the cable sector, the under-declaration (cable operators declare a lower susbcriber base than the actual) is 25-35 per cent. Therefore, even at a lower subscriber base, broadcasters earn more from DTH companies than from cable homes.” Senior executives of most pay channels said they would abide by Trai’s order. “We are drafting the new rates, which will be submitted to Trai within the deadline,” said a senior Zee group executive. Star TV India executives said the law would be followed. However, executives of sports broadcaster ESPN-Star Sports said discussions were on within the company. The leading sports broadcasters has a three-channel bouquet (ESPN, Star Sports and Star Cricket) and its per subscriber cable rates are about Rs 45. However, instead of charging Rs 22 or less, ESPN India is charging DTH players Rs 50 per subscriber for just two channels. Leading regional broadcaster Sun Network is also charging more, sources say. Its bouquet rates for cable homes are said to be Rs 114 per subscriber while it is charging Rs 83 per subscriber from DTH operators. According to an earlier TDSAT order (appellate tribunal for broadcasters and telecom operators), Sun Network has to provide DTH players its bouquet of 16 regional channels for Rs 25 per subscriber. “The Trai directive will help bring in parity in rates,” said a senior executive of Dish TV, the country’s largest DTH company.

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[AjayJP]

Good Move at the right time

 

[Dushie]

it will be great if this goes through, atleast we will get back to good old rs 250 per month package will all channels

 

[ItsMe]

Any idea why there is a rate difference in DTH and non-CAS areas? Ideally it should be the same across platforms, right?. Is this a favor towards the new DTH entrants?

 

[designwebgraphic]

April 4 has gone already and didnt hear from any DTH player for a rate-cut. Is this just a rule of "ignorance". Mostly companies in india think --- (Government) rules are meant to be broken?

 

[icar]

Telecom regulator TRAI will ‘force’ broadcasters slash the bouquet rates on the DTH platform during its meetings with broadcasters beginning from Monday. Trai will tell broadcasters that they cannot charge a premium of more than 50 per cent to DTH operator when compared to the prices they offer to cable operators. Shares of Dish TV and Sun TV may see some pressure as this is likely to keep prices of DTH operators under check.


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[sushil_sh]

thats great news icar , thanks for the fastest news

 

[amish]

all great news always remain news. never becomes reality!

 

[sushil_sh]

GONG IN DETAILS NOW ::

Telecom regulator Trai will ‘force’ broadcasters slash the bouquet rates on the DTH platform during its meetings with broadcasters beginning from Monday.

Trai will tell broadcasters that they cannot charge a premium of more than 50% to DTH operator when compared to the prices they offer to cable operators.

“Trai has capped the [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]cable [COLOR=blue ! important]TV[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] rates in all non-CAS areas across the country – we will tell the broadcasters that they can charge a maximum of a 50% premium on these rates when they offer their channels to DTH players. We will not introduce a law asking them (broadcasters) to lower their rates, but since we have worked out the pricing for all channels, it will a persuasive exercise. We will persuade broadcasters and ensure that they stick to the rates we have worked out,” a Trai source told ET.

Trai had worked out this formula after talks between broadcasters and DTH operators have so far failed to throw up any solutions to their ongoing standoff.

Trai has now decided to adopt this indirect approach to fix the prices of channels as broadcasters had failed to heed to the regulator’s appeal that they be realistic while fixing the price of channels, Trai sources added.

Trai’s move to force broadcasters to reduce bouquet rates will [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]translate[/COLOR][/COLOR] to lower DTH bills for millions of subscribers who use this digital platform to view cable TV.

For leading broadcasters, the Trai move implies that their revenues from DTH operators may fall by up to 50%. The larger implication is that the monthly DTH bills will become as competitive to those charged by cable operators.

As reported earlier by ET, leading DTH players had approached Trai last month seeking the regulator’s intervention as they failed to find common ground with broadcasters over the pricing of channels.

DTH players had also demanded that Trai put in place a [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]system[/COLOR][/COLOR] similar to that for cable operators in metros (CAS notified areas), where broadcasters cannot charge more than Rs 5 per pay channel per subscriber.

Last year, when issuing guidelines for the DTH sector, Trai had refused to cap the prices of channels. Instead, the regulator had asked all DTH operators to enter into mutual commercial agreements with broadcasters where both parties could jointly agree on the price of channels.

However, operators such as Tata Sky say most channels are demanding exorbitant prices and hence they have been unable to conclude mutual agreements with most leading broadcasters.

India’s cable TV sector is watching the developments closely. The cable industry fears that it will lost out significantly if DTH players offer similar rates.

“Talks with the broadcasters will begin from Monday. We are confident that we will get them (broadcasters) to reduce their prices as per the formula devised by us. This will then lead to lower DTH bills,” a Trai source added.


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[sushil_sh]

MUMBAI: Broadcasters will soon have to offer to the direct-to-home (DTH) service providers their channels at a price which is at least 50 per cent less than what they give to [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]cable [COLOR=blue ! important]networks[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] in non-Cas (conditional access system) areas.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has warned that it would step in to regulate the tariff if broadcasters do not comply with the pricing that would in the regulator's terms push forward digitalisation.
Trai has also told broadcasters that they would have to offer to DTH similar number of bouquets that they were giving to cable operators in non-Cas areas.
"We can't be offering single bouquets for DTH. We will also have to soon bring down our rates for DTH," says the head of a broadcasting company.
The sector regulator held a series of separate meetings with individual broadcasters over the last few days to assess the problems and express its firm stance.
Trai had ordered that to help DTH take off and give it a level playing field, broadcasters would have to reduce tariffs to at least 50 per cent of the non-Cas rates.
Broadcasters had submitted to Trai a pricing of their channels which was higher than the cap suggested by the regulator. They had also offered single bouquets for DTH, contrary to what Trai had stated.






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