Tata Sky, Sun Direct Remove Network Fees: What Does This Mean, How Will You Get Benefited?

Cable and DTH firms have started offering new schemes and offers to rule customers.

By Mohul Ghosh On Jan 28, 2019

Sun Direct, Tata Sky removes Network Connect Fees

As the deadline for TRAI’s new cable TV rules are slowing but gradually coming near (it’s January 31st!), DTH and Cable operators have started launching schemes and offer to lure customers.

In this regard, Sun Direct, and Tata Sky have triggered a price war, as they both have decided to remove network connect fees, in some situations.

Is this good for you? How will you get benefitted?

Keep reading to find out more!

Sun Direct: No Network Fees

Sun Direct, which is the smallest DTH operator currently in India, started this new form of marketing by removing the network connect fees for the additional channels.

Tata Sky took inspiration from this new scheme, and they have also removed the network connect fees, for some channels, under different conditions.

In their original plan, Sun Direct has announced that by paying Rs 130 plus GST, which comes to Rs 154, their customers can watch all the FTA channels and Pay channels.

For the additional FTA channels, the customers will need to pay extra.

This means that Sun Direct customers will save money for watching channels beyond 100.

Sun Direct is a big name in South India, and their customers pay Rs 150-Rs 200 for accessing 350+ channels as of now. By removing the network charges for the additional channels beyond 100, they have made sure that their customers are not paying additional money, and under the new Cable TV Rules, they still can watch 300+ channels by paying only Rs 130 plus GST, which is Rs 154.

A good move.

Tata Sky: No Network Fees On Selected Bundles

Meanwhile taking a cue from Sun Direct, India’s largest DTH operator too have announced waiver of Network connect fees, albeit for few selected bundles of channels.

The details of these special bundles are provided on Tata Sky’s website.

Just like Sun Direct offer, customers of Tata Sky can now watch more than 100 channels, without paying any additional network connect fees.

This will help their customers to save some money, and is definitely a USP, under the new Cable TV Rules.

Will You Get Benefited With These Waiver of Network Connect Fees?

Yes. Customers of both Sun Direct and Tata Sky will now get benefitted, under the new offers of waiving off Network Connect fees for additional channels.

To understand how, first we will explain how the new Cable TV regime work.

Starting February 1st, cable TV customers and DTH users will get two bills:

Network connect fees of Rs 130 plus GST for accessing 100 SD or 50 HD channels. Both FTA and Pay channels can be included in this 100 channel bracket.
Content fees for pay channels, which are opted within these 100 channels. Say the customer choses 3 channels whose MRP is Rs 5, then the total bill be: Rs 154 (network connect fees) + Rs 15 for pay channels = Rs 169.

So far so good.

Now, say a customer wants to watch more than 100 channels, which are provided in the basic pack. For this, the customer will be asked to pay Rs 20 for 25 channels slab.

This additional network fees for the additional channel will now waived off for Sun Direct customers, for all additional channels selected, and for some additional channels for Tata Sky users. If a customer wanted to watch 330 channels under Sun Direct, he will have to pay Rs 600 as Network Connect fees earlier. But now, only Rs 154 would be enough to access all 330 channels.

Similarly, if a Tata Sky user wants to access all 600 channels, then a Network Connect fees of Rs 700 has to be paid (plus pay channel expenses extra). But now, as 200 channels are covered under no Network fee, the expense will come down to Rs 520 (approximately) for Network Connect fees.

Charges for the individual pay channels and/or buckets selected by broadcasters directly will be needed to pay extra.

However, let us add here, that the customer can easily remove few channels from the original list of 100 channels, and then accommodate the extra channels by paying nothing extra.

Do you have any question about the new Cable TV regime? Do let us know by commenting right here!