GTPL Hathway, one of India’s top cable TV and cable internet providers, indicated it was not overly worried about telecom players like Bharti Airtel luring away its local cable operator partners under their new LCO partnership strategy. Bharti Airtel had announced some weeks ago that it plans to authorize local cable operators (LCOs) to resell […]
Sun cuts NCF by 62% from Rs 153 to Rs 59 per month Makes it the cheapest pay DTH or cable service in India Could pressurize other DTH players to follow suit When TRAI’s new tariff order came into effect in early 2019, both the regulator and the consumers expected monthly cable and DTH bills […]
Even as evening TV viewership has fallen back to its pre-COVID levels after the COVID-19 lockdown, overall TV viewership continues to remain elevated due to higher levels of daytime consumption in the era of work-from-home. According to numbers disclosed by Sunil Lulla, CEO of TV viewership measurement agency BARC, TV viewership in India has gone […]
The Direct to Home (DTH) satellite broadcasting service has emerged as perhaps the only segment that has seen a clear benefit from the COVID-19 lock-down, with all three listed players seeing an increase in their customer revenue during the lock-down. The biggest jump in revenue was reported by Airtel Digital, which saw its revenue jump […]
After getting postponed several times, an application by broadcasting companies such as Zee Entertainment Enterprises against the latest TRAI directive to implement the new tariff order has been listed for hearing tomorrow morning. The application was originally listed before the Bombay High Court for hearing on last Thursday, but there was no hearing on account […]
Major television channel broadcasters had a disappointing Friday as their application against TRAI’s move to impose the new tariff order could not be heard due to paucity of time, marking the second day the application has been listed and went unheard. Big broadcasters had approached the Bombay High Court earlier this week against TRAI’s Aug […]
Bombay High Court will tomorrow hear a plea filed by various channel broadcasters against TRAI’s direction two weeks ago asking them to publish new channel and pack prices in line new rules issued on Jan 1 this year. UPDATE: Hearing on the matter has been pushed to Friday, Aug 7. On January 1, TRAI had […]
Punit Goenka, the MD and CEO of content maker Zee Entertainment Enterprises, expressed reservations about the possibility of implementing TRAI’s revised tariff order in the current financial year. Responding to an investor query on what impact he saw the implementation of the January 1 tariff order would have on his company’s subscription incomes this year, […]
In keeping with the recently announced move to decriminalize smaller offences — especially those of a technical or financial nature — Government of India today proposed to remove jail terms for violating Cable TV Networks Regulation Act. At present, the violation of the cable TV Act can result in jail terms of up to two […]
Bharti Airtel has become the first major DTH or cable company to free up its content app, Airtel XStream, from its hardware. All other major cable and DTH companies in India offer their app only on their own device — typically a stick or a set-top-box — and do not allow the software to be […]
Premium Hindi general entertainment channels, including Star Plus, Zee TV and Colors, have seen a sharp decline in their viewership during the COVID-19 lockdown, even as viewership of Doordarshan, movie channels and news channels have seen sharp increases, reveals ratings from BARC, India’s largest TV ratings agency. Even as general TV viewership increased, no category […]
Government of India has “requested” cable and DTH operators to not disconnect those subscribers who do not recharge or pay their monthly bill during the COVID-19 lock-down. The request has been made based on two justifications: First, doing so will help keep the people indoors, and second, it will help counter fake news that spreads […]
Dish TV, the oldest Direct-To-Home satellite transmission service in India, is preparing to improve its line-up on channels in a bid to retain market share in the face in rising competition. The company, which has two separate beams — one for South India and one for the rest of the country — has started removing […]
In what has to come as a major disappointment to big cable operators in the country, the Kerala High Court has given an interim green signal for TRAI to apply nearly all the provisions of the tariff order as it continues to hear the case. Earlier, it had asked TRAI not to take any punitive […]
Most cable and DTH operators in India have failed to comply with TRAI’s tariff order issued that came into effect today in perhaps the first such incident in the industry’s history. As of today, the amended provisions of the Telecom Services Tariff Order, notified two months ago, have come into place. However, as of 8 […]
Tata Sky, the DTH service from the Tata Group, has become the first DTH platform to put into effect the amended TRAI tariff order, with only hours to go before the March 1 deadline. Other DTH operators are likely to follow suit in the next few hours. NCF REDUCED The first step towards implementing the […]
The Indian broadcast and telecom regulator TRAI has refused to postpone the implementation of the amended tariff order on television channel pricing in court. The Bombay High Court had, on Wednesday, asked TRAI to state whether it was open to pushing back the date for the implementation of the amended tariff order by one month […]
Bombay High Court today asked Telecom Regulatory Authority of India if it was willing to postpone the implementation of the amended TV channel pricing regulations by one month. This follows a change in the bench hearing a petition against the new rules filed by some industry stakeholders, including Indian Broadcasting Foundation. The judges who have […]
Broadcast regulator TRAI has sent a letter to all broadcasters, cable and DTH firms reminding them to take “preparatory activities” ahead of regulatory and pricing changes from March 1. From that day, no channel priced above Rs 12 will be allowed to be sold as part of a package. Cable and DTH firms will also […]
India’s major cable and DTH companies, such as Tata Sky, Airtel Digital, Dish TV, Hathway and GTPL, are likely to unveil new plans and TV channel packs today under TRAI’s amended tariff order. According to the amended tariff order — which has not been stayed by any court so far — all distribution platforms (cable […]
