Cable TV Expenses Will Increase By 25% For All; Cable Users Revolt Against DTH/Cable Operators

Revenue for broadcasters is expected to increase by 40%, at the same time.

By Mohul Ghosh On Feb 5, 2019

There is some bad news for Cable TV consumers in India: As per a recent report, it has been revealed that on average, cable TV expenses will increase by 25% for all users.

Meanwhile, Cable TV subscribers have revolved against TRAI’s new Cable TV rules and regulations, by airing their frustration on Twitter.

What exactly is happening here?

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Cable TV Expenses Will Increase By 25%

A recent Crisil report has warned Cable consumers that the average monthly expenses for a typical India household will now increase by 25%, in the coming days.

This massive increase in Cable expenses has been solely attributed to the new Cable TV regulations imposed by TRAI, which has come into effect starting February 1st, 2019.

At the same time, the new rules and regulations will, directly and indirectly, benefit the broadcasters, and cable operators, DTH firms.

The report stated, “The network capacity fee (NCF) and channel prices announced by broadcasters and distributors as per the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)’s new guidelines could increase the monthly bill of most subscribers of television channels,”

How Will Cable TV Expense Increase For You?

As per a broad analysis by Crisil, overall expenses for an average household will increase by 25%, monthly.

Sachin Gupta, Senior Director, Ratings at Crisil stated that in case a family paid Rs 230 to Rs 240 for accessing the top 10 Indian channels before February 1st, the new cable TV expense will increase to Rs 300.

This is a direct increase of 25%.

Profits For Broadcasters Will Increase

At the same time, revenue generated by a broadcaster from each subscriber will increase by 40%. Before February 1st, a broadcaster such as Zee or Star earned Rs 60 to Rs 70 from each of their subscribers.

This, shall increase to Rs 90 after February 1st, under the new Cable TV regulations and rules. This is an increase of 40% in revenues for the broadcasters.

As per Nitesh Jain, Director, Ratings at Crisil, OTT players such as Amazon Prime, Hotstar, Netflix will be the biggest benefactors due to this new cable TV rules.

Cable TV Users Rebel Against New Cable TV Rules

Meanwhile, within days of implementing new Cable TV rules, social media has erupted with protests and complaints by cable TV users against the new rules.

Majority of users are complaining that the average expenses have increased, and in some cases, their respective operator has failed to upgrade them to the new plans.

Here are few actual tweets by users:

“@TRAI @MIB_India I have to pay ?416 for the same plan which was previously @ ?320.” – Amber Nagpal?

@officiald2h You guys never missed to deliver these unwanted SMS. But not ready to restore d2h connection inspite of having active plan as per @TRAI norms. And customer care people just putting calls on hold. #shame pic.twitter.com/3NHGHOmCbB

— Harshil Soni (@harshiltweet) February 4, 2019

“No use .. just a waste… It’s almost about 350 for just 26 channels.. the networking fee? what’s this? Plus it’s charged extra on selected channels.

Just not done!.. #scam” – A Twitter user

My balance was @ 4100 before choosing, Now left 1223/-.How come this deduction happened??
Please clarify…. pic.twitter.com/VtUTA6yUDo

— Dinesh Kumar Talan (@dineshkumartal) February 2, 2019

“Dear @DishTV_India u guys have changed my pack, and now its cost 550 a month earlier it was 366, is it some kind of punishment on #Budget day.” – Another Twitter user

“Videocon D2h is misleading customer and making fun of TRAI rules, as they have added useless channel to basic service tier and all 100 channel as designed by them are mandatory, more no final pricing is to seen in total but d2h is forcing us to take their plan.” – @Cm

“Hey @TRAI @officiald2h forcing me to take 100 useless channel under basic tier package. Not able to remove useless channels from 100 channel list! That’s against TRAI new rules!” – Rohit Kumar

Have you experienced any increase in cable TV expenses, under the new Cable TV rules? Do let me know, by commenting right here.