Bombay High Court today asked Telecom Regulatory Authority of India if it was willing to postpone the implementation of the amended TV channel pricing regulations by one month. This follows a change in the bench hearing a petition against the new rules filed by some industry stakeholders, including Indian Broadcasting Foundation. The judges who have […]
Reliance Jio, India’s largest telecom and cable company, has placed an order of around 5 lakh advanced set-top-boxes with Dixon Technologies, including those for deployment on Hathway and Den’s cable networks. Unlike the IPTV-enabled set-top-boxes being rolled out as part of the Jio Fiber network, many of these STBs sourced from Dixon are not meant […]
Broadcast regulator TRAI has sent a letter to all broadcasters, cable and DTH firms reminding them to take “preparatory activities” ahead of regulatory and pricing changes from March 1. From that day, no channel priced above Rs 12 will be allowed to be sold as part of a package. Cable and DTH firms will also […]
India’s major cable and DTH companies, such as Tata Sky, Airtel Digital, Dish TV, Hathway and GTPL, are likely to unveil new plans and TV channel packs today under TRAI’s amended tariff order. According to the amended tariff order — which has not been stayed by any court so far — all distribution platforms (cable […]
The Bombay High Court has not granted any stay on TRAI’s modified tariff order for TV channels that is scheduled to come into effect from March 1. Instead, the bench of Justices SC Dharmadhikari and RI Chagla posted the matter for February 12 and 13. This is the third time that broadcasters have had to […]
The Bombay High Court did not grant any interim stay on the TRAI’s amendments to last year’s tariff order at the second day of hearing on the matter, making it even more likely that broadcasters will be forced to cut their channel prices soon. Instead of issuing a stay, the High Court has posted the […]
Most of the channel packs currently available to cable and DTH customers are likely to disappear on Mar 1, given that broadcasters like Star, Sony and Zee have missed a 45-day window for making them complaint to new rules. This means that consumers who are currently subscribed to packs from Star, Zee, Colors and other […]
The Bombay High Court did not issue a stay on the implementation of the amended TV channel tariff order issued by TRAI on News Year’s day, but kept the possibility open when it takes up the case again on January 22. Broadcasters, under the aegis of Indian Broadcasting Foundation, had approached the Bombay High Court […]
Even as the channel owners today took TRAI to the courts over changes to channel pricing rules, the regulator has issued a statement responding to their concerns. Broadly, it said the latest changes were required to overcome ‘teething problems’ associated with such a radical shift to a choice-oriented television distribution regime, but also criticized some […]
India Ratings, a unit of Fitch Group, said new tweaks to TRAI’s 2017 tariff order — scheduled to come into effect on March 1 — are likely to reduce revenue for channel owners, be neutral for cable and DTH players and reduce costs for consumers. “India Ratings & Research (Fitch Group) believes that Telecom Regulatory […]
Recent changes in how television channels are priced and distributed have given an advantage to large broadcasting companies, helping them push out smaller and regional channels, India’s biggest association of news broadcasters warned. If left unchecked, the current trends would result in a loss of plurality and the establishment of monopolistic market in the country, […]
An average Airtel Digital customer spent 4.1% more money on their DTH service in July-September period compared to the previous three months, beating back the seasonal effect of the monsoons and indicating that customers may be gradually spending more on their cable and DTH bills. The monsoon season tends to see smaller recharges by prepaid […]
Media regulator TRAI will come up with a modified set of rules to increase transparency in the pricing of television channels in the next 20-25 days, Chairman RS Sharma said on the sidelines of the open house discussion on the subject in New Delhi. Sharma’s statement comes in the wake of widespread complaints about broadcasters […]
Hathway Cable and Datacom, one of India’s biggest cable feed providers, has again turned profitable, but it also reported an increase of Rs 87 mn in its pay channel costs while subscription revenue increased by only Rs 37 mn. Given that subscription revenue increased only 1% while pay channel costs increased 7%, it is likely […]
When cellular telephony started in India, Bharti and Reliance took two divergent approaches towards launching cellular services — Airtel decided to focus on providing the services, leaving third party players to provide the hardware, while Reliance decided went with CDMA, a technology in which everything was more tightly controlled. Despite the obvious technological shortcomings of […]
Discovery Communications, India’s biggest provider of infotainment content, has taken broadcasting regulator TRAI to the Delhi High Court for the second time in three years for trying to bring down prices of individual TV channels. TRAI had earlier this month announced a move to force channel owners to bring the prices of their individual channels […]
Media regulator TRAI has shot off letters to most of the top cable TV feed providers in India, asking them to allow users to change their packs, and ensure that their business partners provide itemized billing to customers and pay tax to the government. It, however, remains to be seen how cable feed providers are […]
TV channel owners have indicated that they may again take media regulator TRAI to court over its latest move to ‘unbundle’ televisions channels. TRAI’s latest move, unveiled in a consultation paper earlier this month, is the second such in the last three years. Star India and Discovery Communications had taken TRAI to court in 2017 […]
Arasu Cable, the government-owned cable feed provider in Tamil Nadu, has become the first big player to drastically reduce the monthly network charge under TRAI’s new tariff order, throwing a challenge to the likes of Tata Sky, Dish TV, Hathway and Sun Direct. Arasu Cable’s new base plan of Rs 130 contains six broadcaster packs […]
Reliance Jio Chairman Mukesh Ambani said his company has come up with a set-top-box that will come with support for the existing digital cable TV business of local cable operators. This means that Jio Box will supply two services — the regular cable TV from the existing cable, and a new, high-end service via fiber […]
