Airtel Digital TV, Dish TV, Hathway, and Others Announce Channel Prices, Packs Under New TRAI Rules

Major DTH and cable TV operators in the country have announced revised channel pack pricing, thanks to implementation of the new regulatory framework constructed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). Airtel Digital TV and Dish TV are among the first DTH operators to have published the prices of individual channels. Notably, Cable TV distributors and multi-system operators (MSO) such as Den Networks, Hathway Cable, and Siti Cable have also revealed their updated packs and started showing charges for individual channels to follow the latest regulatory framework.

Among the major DTH players, Dish TV has published a list showing the channel-wise pricing on its service. The operator has segregated the available channels on its network on the basis of genres. While the list is populated with a large number of free-to-air channels, it includes various paid channels as well.

The list provided by Dish TV highlights channels from various genres, such as English News, Hindi Movies, Lifestyle/ Fashion, and Sports. Further, Dish TV has highlighted different packs from broadcasters. There are packs such as Hindi HD Premium, Hindi HD Value, and Telugu Value from Star India; Times Bouquet 1 HD and Times Bouquet 2 HD from Times Network; Turner Family Pack and Turner Kids Pack from Turner International; and Happy India 31, Happy India Platinum, and Happy India HD from Sony Pictures Networks.

Separately, Airtel Digital TV has provided the pricing of the individual channels on its website. The operator is charging Rs. 20 to Rs. 22 per month for premium channels such as Star Sports, Sony, and Zee Cafe. Airtel Digital TV is also likely to follow Dish TV and bring newly formed packs from broadcasters such as Star Value and Sony Happy India.

Cable operator Hathway has also revealed various channel packs to attract the audience. There are monthly packs such as "Namma Kannada" at Rs. 272, "Mana Telugu" at Rs. 275, "Premium Kannada" at Rs. 401, and "Aapla Choice" at Rs. 271.

Additionally, Den Networks has listed monthly packs from various broadcasters, such as Sun TV Network, Discovery, and Disney. The packs start from as low as Rs. 4 and go up to Rs. 145.

Similar is the case with Siti Cable that has listed different suggestive packs for subscribers wishing to pick a list of paid channels. These packs start from Rs. 52 and go up to Rs. 166.

Apart from different monthly packs, the cable service providers and DTH operators in India are likely to kick off a monthly charge of maximum Rs. 130 to offer 100 free-to-air channels. The TRAI has mandated that the free-to-air channels under the monthly cable bill will be chosen by consumers.

As announced late last month, the TRAI has given consumers time till January 31 to select channels of their choice under the new framework. The framework that was originally announced in March 2017 was supposed to go into effect on December 28, 2018. "All existing packs/plans/bouquets to the subscribers will continue uninterrupted till January 31, 2019. No service provider to disconnect any signal or feed to any MSO/LCO (local cable operator)/subscriber till January 31, 2019," TRAI had said in a statement last week.