Unlimited FTA Channels At Rs 130 For Dish TV Users; Niche Channels Make Niche Plans Visibility!

India’s biggest DTH operator: Dish TV has announced a new plan for all users, wherein they save money on the Network Connect Fees for all FTA channels. This can set a new benchmark for offering FTA channels in India.

Meanwhile, as per reports coming in, niche and smaller channels are now resorting to niche and unique strategies for getting visibility.

What are they doing here?

Unlimited FTA Channels For Dish TV At Rs 130

As per TRAI’s new Cable TV regulations, every cable user has to pay Rs 130 plus GST to access 100 channels. These can include FTA or Free to Air channels and pay channels, both.

For pay channels, the user will need to pay extra, and for additional FTA channels, charge of Rs 20 per 25 channels will be levied.

But for Dish TV users, there is an interesting offer: Now, they can watch unlimited FTA channels without paying any NCF or Network Connect Fees extra.

Earlier, Dish TV had removed NCF for 189 FTA channels, which has now been extended to unlimited FTA channels.

Hence, even if the Dish TV user watches say 200 FTA channels, there will be no extra charge. All he or she needs to pay is Rs 130 plus GST. This is called the ‘Mera Apna Pack’. All 25 mandatory Doordarshan channels will be part of the offer.

However, there is a catch here: In order to avail this offer, the user will need to subscribe to atleast one pay channel.

Another catch: In case the subscriber choose more than 75 pay channels, then the respective Network Connect Fees will be charged.

Tata Sky too have announced interesting offers for reducing NCF loan on customers, so has Airtel and others.

TRAI has already allowed DTH and Cable operators to roll out discount offers, such as for multiple TV connections.

Niche and Smaller Channels Struggle For Visibility

Smaller channels, which cater to niche audience are now struggling hard to compete against bigger broadcasters, who have collaborated with DPOs or Distribution Platform Operators to get visibility.

Now, smaller and niche channels are resorting to unique strategies to gain visibility.

For instance, BTVI, which was a paid channel earlier, has now become free to air channel, so that the channels gets more visibility, as part of the FTA bouquet. But again, if the DPO doesn’t offer them in their pack, then the effort will go in vain.

As per BTVI COO, Megha Tata, OTTs such as Hotstar and SonyLIV, along with ZEE5 have proven to be good alternatives as of now.

We have already reported how FTA or Free to Air channels face a dicey future under the new Cable TV regime.

We will keep you updated, as more details come in.