The All India Aavishkar Dish Antenna Sangh has appealed to the Minister for Information and Broadcasting to stop implementation of New Tariff Order 2.0 issued by TRAI. In a letter addressed to the minister Mr. Anurag Thakur, the President of the Association Dr. Anil Kumar Rastogi requested the Government to initiate best possible action to stop implementation of NTO 2.0.
He brought to the notice of the Minister that the active subscriber base of the cable television has come down by 25% after the implementation of the first tariff order, NTO1.0 in 2019. “The broadcasting industry has been struggling ever since to gain reach with some broadcasters even shutting down their niche offerings, especially English GECs and movie channels, which have been affected the most.” He explained.
TRAI has brought a major change with NTO 2.0. The regulator decided that every DTH/Cable TV operator should provide 200 channels in the base NCF slab of Rs 130. So users will get double FTA channels at the same price. However, the industry feels that this NCF pricing is already market driven and all MSOs and LCOs are providing ample discounts to customers as per geographic areas and market. Broadcasters feared that the NTO 2.0 implementation would impact the advertising revenues of select channels, especially niche channels, as the price-conscious consumer may rationalize her TV package, leading to a reduced reach for some channels.
After the hike in channel pricing by the broadcasters, the All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF) requested TRAI to delay the NTO 2.0 implementation and now most of MSOs and LCOs feel that NTO2 , should not be implemented at all. However, observing all the pros and cons, the industry feels that NTO2 regulations is not required. The LCO, MSOs and even Broadcasters have now stabilized the process and customer choice to a most optimum level and there are no issues of customer dissasfactions.
The NTO 2.0 has put a cap on the MRPs of channels that wish to be a part of bouquets. Hence, broadcasters are pricing their flagship channels above Rs 12 as they cannot be a part of any bouquet. The demand for flagship channels across the country will thus increase the monthly cable bills of the end consumer. Earlier in October, the major broadcasters complying with the provisions of NTO 2.0 had filed revised RIOs. This led to an increase of up to 50% in the MRPs of most of their flagship channels.
