Cable TV to get more expensive from New Year's Eve

Watching cable television at home is likely to get disrupted - and expensive - come 2019 as Local Cable Operators say they aren't ready to align with the new tariff regime which kicks in on December 29.

According to a report on the Times of India, cable TV is set to get upto 1000 percent more expensive once the tariff regime kicks in as the rules say customers should choose the channels they want to watch, which will have their own price - the price per channel is already being displayed on cable TV, going from as little as Rs 1 to Rs 19.

The new regime prescribed by the TRAI dictates that customers must choose from 100 free-to-air channels, including the mandatory 26 Doordarshan channels, at a fixed price of Rs 130 plus GST. Upon this, customers can choose from another 25 channels for a fixed price of Rs. 20.

Beyond the 125 channels for Rs 150 plus GST, customers can choose what individual channels (a la carte) or bouquet channels (a package) to pick from for a fixed rate by broadcasters.

Broadcasters are required to announce the MRP of the individual channels in question and the bouquet packages will cost the sum of each channel in it - with some discount permitted.
Under the current regime, customers pay anywhere between 150 and 300 for over 400 channels, but under the upcoming regime, LCOs are fearing a tenfold increase in price should customers choose to continue to avail all the channels.

C Patrick Raju, president of the Karnataka State Cable TV Association, confirmed that the preparations for the upcoming TV regime are inadequate and there may be "chaos" ahead of New Year's Eve as the tariff regime kicks in. He also said that they are expecting hostility from customers over the price hikes, who will target cable operators.

Operators are also planning to send a delegation to PM Modi and CM H D Kumaraswamy to appeal them to extend the deadline by three months, in addition to a statewide protest, according to Raju.

However, TRAI is not convinced on the position of the LCOs and MSOs. Aravind Kumar, an advisor at TRAI, said that the body gave ample time to the operators to be prepared for the shift and they were also given training sessions for the same.

Kumar said that the new regime is being brought in with the interest of customers, who he says, have been at the mercy of MSOs and LCOs and not given a choice of which channels they want to watch. The new regime, he says, will give the customer control over their entertainment.