Heena Sharma Blog

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Thursday launched a channel selector application which will facilitate consumers to view their TV subscription and choose the channels of their interest while removing the unwanted ones. In a statement, TRAI said that after issuing the new tariff order for broadcasting services it was noticed that consumers were facing difficulty to opt for TV channels or bouquets of their choice on the web portal or applications of their respective Distributed Platform Operators (DPO). Therefore, the authority decided to develop an app which will fetch data from DPOs. The channel selector app is presently functional with major DTH operators and Multi System Operators (MSO/cable operators). However, efforts are being made to integrate other service providers also on the platform, TRAI said. Read More

To protect consumer interests, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Wednesday has released amendments to the New Tariff Orde r (NTO). According to the new order, number of free-to-air channels has increased, pricing for pay channels has reduced and TRAI has capped the number of bouquets of pay channels offered by broadcasters. Analysts say this move is likely to lower the average revenue per user (ARPU) for TV operators. It had surged by close to 60 per cent, on an average, after the NTO took effect. This would mean a lower share of revenue for broadcasters, who used to get almost 50 per cent share after the NTO came into being in February last year. It will negatively impact broadcasters’ revenue, which had grown 30-40 per cent year-on-year due to the higher share and increased ARPU. At present, direct-to-home (DTH) or cable TV operators provide only 100 channels for a network capacity fee (NCF) levy of Rs 153. Now, cable operators will have to provide 200 ch...