50% Indians Ditched Cable, DTH & Opted For Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar – TRAI’s New Cable TV Rules Backfired?

The Telecom Regulator of India (TRAI) has been going through multiple reformations since the past 3 years. Despite its numerous struggles and plans to increase traction and viewership, more and more people are mitigating towards online content platforms.

In March 2017, the regulator notified a new framework, as per which the customers had the freedom to select the television channels of their choice. This came into effect effect on December 29, 2018.

Unfortunately, reports showed that post implementation of this tariff order, instead of seeing a cut down on cable bills, most consumers reported that they witnessed an average of 25% rise in their bills.

It then released its New Tariff Order 2.0, ‘NTO 2.0’, which we shall talk more about further in the article.

People Have Migrated towards OTT Platform Post NTO

Surely the TRAI might insist that most people have benefited out of the NTO but the actual results don’t seem to be in favor of this.

Market research has shown that people have actually diverted themselves towards online content after this NTO, while some have even unsubscribed their DTH connections completely.

It was found that 48% Indian DTH subscribers shifted spending their time on OTT platforms especially after the implementation of the TRAI order. In fact, one in six (16%) claimed to have unsubscribed from a DTH connection, while one in five (21%) have unsubscribed and moved entirely online for content.

Men were more likely than women to disconnect their cable connection (19% versus 13%) while the youngest generation, GenZ were more likely than the rest to not just unsubscribe but migrate online.

NTO 2.0

NTO 2.0, as it is referred to after the amendments introduced by Trai this January, offers consumers 200 channels with the base slab of Rs. 130 as opposed to 100 earlier. 

As per the data, majority of respondents (60%) favor the revised order, 14% disapprove of it and 26% have no view in this regard. Following the introduction of the TRAI regulatory framework last year, 40% TV-viewers selected channels individually and paid for each, 37% bought a bundle pack and 23% opted for free-to-air channels with few additions.

The proportion of people wanting to buy a bundle pack as well as keep free channels is similar, at 31% each, suggesting that people are equally receptive to both offerings.