Your DTH TV Bill May Fall By 14% After TRAI New Amendments

In India, the new changes in the industry of DTH and broadcasting are amendments to the previously introduced TRAI regime which had come into picture in Feb 2019. The new amendments of TRAI to the new regulatory framework for DTH cable and broadcasting services could be lower DTH bills by up to 14% from present levels. TRAI has capped at Rs 160 the price users have to pay monthly for all TV channels including free ones. The changes will come into force starting in March 2020. In this informative post, we are going to talk about a few rules that will change the shape of the cable industry in the future.

Multi TV & Long Term Channel Packs

Tata sky, one of the leading DTH service providers in the industry offers a list of benefits to its new users which rival service providers are failing to deliver. The company provides affordable set-top boxes and cheap packs to its customers. But when it comes to multi TV connections, the company becomes one of the most expensive service providers to users. On the other hand, dish TV provides multi TV connect at Rs 50 as the base network capacity free (NCF) while Airtal digital TV charges Rs 90. But Tata Sky has not launched any plans so far like this which means users have to pay the same amount similar to a separate connection. So there is no primary and secondary connection facility.

But some reports suggest that the new rules and changes of the telecom regulatory authority of India are going to change this. TRAI has also cleared that the multi TV connection facilities have to provide to users and will be applied to DTH service companies. Also, the new rules suggest that DTH operators can not charge more than 40% of the base NCF of the primary connection for the secondary connection. The prime aim behind this rule is making secondary connections cheaper and users can use one connection for two TV instead of taking two separate connections.

A big change in NCF price

 Network capacity fee (NCF) is paid by the users for carrying the channels. You used to get 100 TV channels for Rs 130 but now you would be getting 200 TV channels and no mandatory counted against your brought NCF out of these channels. If you want to choose for more than 100 channels, then you can choose additional channels in each slab of 25 channels with at a price of Rs. 20 per slab. If you and your family watch Free Channels only, switch to Free Dish where you have not to pay any charges monthly. If you watch fewer channels, pick FTA channels and later buy a few individual channels which will come under Rs75 channel capacity and you will be charged less.

Besides, the new rules also capped the NCF at Rs 160. This means the secondary connection will be charged not more than Rs 64. Users who are paying Rs 130 per month for NCF need to pay just Rs 52 extra for their secondary TV connection. Cable service providers will not charge more than Rs 160 in the name of NCF. You will not have to pay more than 40% of your total NCF in case of a multi TV connection which you are paying for the primary connection.

Enjoy Revolutionized TV Experience With D2H Modified DTH Packages

D2H has emerged out as the best cable service provider and is providing the largest network of television channels. After TRAI new rules, all customers of D2H have to go under some changes, thus as per the new framework, you will have two main choices now. Pay NCF about Rs.130 to D2h which will give you around 100 free channels, and after this fee, you can choose paid channels. Either you can choose from readymade Channel Packages by D2h, you can choose a single channel from the paid channel list. Or you can choose from broadcaster channel packs such as Zee Entertainment, Sony Entertainment and Star has their own Packs.

Long Term Pack Can Be Inexpensive

A big number of DTH users were used to prefer long-term subscription plans to get some price discounts in the past. With the latest changes to the framework affected those huge discounts. The TRAI through its recent changes has permitted DTH service providers to provide a discount on long term subscription that is for 6 months or more. This is because it will help users pay discounted prices for long term subscription packs. TRAI says the best fit DTH plan should be designed based on consumers' usage and language is spoken. They have extended the timeline for consumers to make their channel preferences till March 31, 2020.

So, these are some of the changes which will penetrate the DTH and broadcasting industry and will bring some consumer-centric changes. But the broadcasters have opposed these rules but these rules might reduce the bills for users.