TRAI’s new DTH rules from Feb 1

The new rules for DTH and cable operators by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) come into effect on February 1, with January 31 being the new deadline for customers to choose the channels for which they wish to pay.

The premise is that these new DTH rules will make your cable television bill lower, at least from what it used to be. Here are three things to keep in mind about the new DTH, cable operator rules by TRAI.

TRAI’s notice issued on December 28, revised the deadline to January 31. The earlier deadline for migration was December 29, 2018.

The notification reads, “Provided further that all distributors of television channels shall offer and obtain the option for subscription of new packs, plans or bouquets from the subscribers in compliance with the provisions of these regulations on or before 31st January, 2019 and shall ensure that services to the subscribers are provided as per the new packs, plans or bouquets opted for subscription by the subscribers only after 31st January, 2019.”

This means the new plans will come into effect from February 1, 2019. TRAI has said that cable operators, DTH providers need to assure there is no blackout of television for customers, and that the transition should be smooth.

TRAI’s order also says that no service provider can disconnect any signal/feed to a subscriber till January 31, 2019 on the pretext of implementation of new regulatory framework.

With the new rules, customers now have to pay only for the channels which they watch. Many DTH operators like Airtel, DishTV, etc have already put out the base prices of each channel. TRAI says the idea with the new framework is that consumers will be able to choose to pay for channels of their choice on a-la-carte basis or in form of bouquets made by broadcasters as-well-as by the distributors.

The press release from TRAI declares, “The new framework provides for complete transparency on Pay Channel pricing structure whereby no distributor can charge above the MRP .”

The consumer will have to pay a basic fee of Rs 130 (plus taxes, which will come to Rs 154) and this will include a tier of 100 channels. TRAI also says companies, local cable operators cannot levy additional charges for providing any free to air channel.

“Any subscriber who opts for more than 100 channels can choose additional channels in each slab of 25 channels @Rs. 20 per slab,” notes the recommendation. This is the the network capacity fee, which will charged extra to the Rs 130, plus taxes.

For instance, Airtel’s a-la-carte menu requires that users have to message about their individual choices to create their own pack. The prices shown for the channels are inclusive of taxes.  The base channel pack will also include 26 channels from Doordarshan, which are free to air.