Cable TV providers in red
While the railways increased their fare, the TRAI decided to give a more pleasant gift – more channels at lesser price.
It amended the new regulatory framework for cable and broadcasting services covering cable TV users, capping the monthly fee payable at Rs.160 for all free to air channels, effective 1st March, 2020.
Highlights of the changes made:
Channels declared mandatory by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting will not be counted in the number of channels in the Network Capacity Fee (NCF).
Sum of the a-la-carte rates of the pay channels forming part of a bouquet shall in no case exceed one and a half times the rate of the bouquet of which such pay channels are a part.
The a-la-carte rates of each pay channel (MRP), forming part of a bouquet, shall in no case exceed three times the average rate of a pay channel of the bouquet of which such pay channel is a part.
Only those channels which have an MRP of Rs 12 or less will be permitted to be part of the bouquet offered by broadcasters.
A cap of Rs 4 lakh per month has been prescribed on carriage fee payable by a broadcaster to Distribution Platform Operators (DPO) in a month for carrying a channel in the country.
Where there are more than one TV connections in a home, registered in one person’s name, TRAI will charge a maximum of 40% of declared Network Capacity Fee (NCF) for the second and additional TV connections.
It has reduced maximum NCF charge to Rs 130 (excluding taxes) for 200 channels.
Following this news, the media channels, those which provide cable TV services are down in the red. Sun TV was the biggest loser, falling almost 6.5% to Rs.411, Den Networks is down 4% at Rs.44.50, Raj Television Network is also down in the red by 1% at Rs.43.50. Dish TV was down in the morning session but is now in the green – lower rates might mean higher demand for its product. Zee Entertainment on the other hand, is down 3% at Rs.279.85.