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Watching TV gets expensive from December 1: Know why

The prices of petrol and diesel are already burning the pocket of people and also have become a topic of major concern and now, watching TV is going to be an expensive affair and now the prices of TV channels are going to increase from December 1.

By Newsd
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Watching TV gets expensive from December 1: Know why

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India TRAI is an authority that regulates the broadcasting and mobile services in the country and had issued a New Tariff Order (NTO) regarding the prices of TV channels in March 2017.

(TRAI) is a regulatory body set up by the Government of India under section 3 of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997.

Its mission is to create and nurture conditions for the growth of telecommunications in India to enable the country to have a leading role in the emerging global information society.

One of its main objectives is to provide a fair and transparent environment that promotes a level playing field and facilitates fair competition in the market. It regularly issues orders and directions on various subjects such as tariffs, interconnections, quality of service, Direct To Home (DTH) services and mobile number portability.

Amid all the rising prices of petrol and diesel among others, now watching TV is going to be added to the list of expensive things too. The prices of petrol and diesel are already burning the pocket of people and also have become a topic of major concern and now, watching TV is going to be an expensive affair and now the prices of TV channels are going to increase from December 1.

As per the sources, it is so because the country’s leading broadcasting networks Zee, Star, Sony and Viacom18 have excluded some channels from their bouquet, or the pack of channel because of which people may have to spend up to 50% more to watch the same channels now.

TRAI, the authority that regulates broadcasting and mobile services in the country, had issued a New Tariff Order (NTO) regarding the prices of TV channels in March 2017. The authority’s motive behind the NTO was to ensure that people only pay for the channels they want to watch. However, there were certain issues with the NTO after which, on January 1, 2020, the tariff order was issued once again. It was called NTO 2.0.

The companies are said to be changing the prices of their channels.

As mentioned above, the country’s leading broadcasting networks Viacom, Zee, Star and Sony have removed some channels from their bouquet and increased their prices. These prices are increasing due to the implementation of the new tariff order of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

According to the Bombay High Court’s decision to uphold this order has been challenged in the Supreme Court, but an immediate stay was not received. It will be heard in the Supreme Court on November 30.

Now we will also let you know about the monthly value of a channel offered in a bouquet of the broadcasting networks which earlier was fixed at a minimum of Rs 19, but in the new tariff order of TRAI, it has been fixed at a minimum of Rs 12.

Only 7% of the country’s television viewers subscribe to the channel on an Ala Cart basis. The remaining 93% subscribe to the entire bouquet. In this situation, it can be extremely harmful to channels to offer most of their channels for only Rs 12.

In order to reduce this loss, networks have thought of raising the prices of some popular channels by excluding them from the bouquet. This includes several channels in the sports, regional and general entertainment categories. Broadcasting networks expect people who have become used to these channels to subscribe to the Ala Cart basis at a higher price.

For leading channels like Star Plus, Colors, Sony, and Zee, TC viewers will have to pay Rs 35 extra after a hike of 50 percent in the price. At present, people pay Rs 49 per month for Star and Disney channels but after December they may have to pay up to Rs 69 per month.

For Sony, they will have to spend Rs 71 a month instead of Rs 39. For Zee, it will be Rs 49 instead of Rs 39 and for Viacom18 channels, it will be Rs 39 instead of Rs 25.

TRAI had issued a New Tariff Order (NTO) in March 2017 regarding the prices of TV channels. TRAI believed that with NTO 2.0, viewers will be able to pay by selecting only those channels which they want to watch.

However, the channels whose monthly value was kept between Rs 15-25 by the broadcasting network, were fixed at a minimum of Rs 12 due to the new tariff order of TRAI. Due to which the broadcaster channel was suffering. Due to this, the prices of some popular channels are increasing.

The step has been taken to reduce the loss of the broadcasters. Because taking popular channels from the bouquet and recharging them separately will help them.

But anyways, this would be little problematic to the common people and their daily lifestyles.

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