Over 45 million cable subscribers lose access to Zee, Star, and Sony networks

Certain cable operators have been denied access to some television channels by broadcasters like Zee Entertainment, Star, and Sony Pictures because they did not adhere to the new tariff regulation 3.0, which went into effect on February 1. According to persons with knowledge of the situation, the decision is anticipated to have an impact on close to 45 million cable TV subscribers.

The maximum retail price (MRP) of a TV channel that can be included in a bouquet was increased by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to 19 from 12 in November. The television channel costs in the bouquet increased by roughly 10–15% as a result of Trai's directive, although certain individual channel prices outside experienced a greater increase flower bouquet

The high courts in Kerala and Karnataka have not ordered a stay on Trai's ruling. We had given the local cable companies (who had not yet implemented the pricing hikes) 48 hours to comply with the order as required by the regulations. According to a broadcasting business executive who spoke on the record under the condition of anonymity, "We are required by regulations to disconnect the channels.

The CEO further explained that since there haven't been any increases in five years, the industry needs this first increase of 10-15%.

As a result of this rate increase, local cable TV companies claim they are already seeing a churn in their OTT entertainment app subscribers Industry may soon cease to exist.

Today, broadcasters assert that roughly 80% of cable operators and DTH (direct-to-home) providers like Dish TV and Tata Play have complied with the new rate ruling.

The majority of the All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF) members, including the Hathway Cable and DEN Networks cable TV distribution businesses controlled by Reliance Industries, are defying the directive.

An executive of a local cable TV operator claimed that the broadcasters were lying because 80% of the cable TV operators who signed the agreement were not in operation and that the pricing increases would bring in roughly '5,000 crore for them.

Nonetheless, broadcasters contend that they must pay a high cost for content and spend a lot of money on it Subscriptions generate 30% of the company's revenue.

These cable TV providers actually make money from a number of other sources, including network capacity fees (NCF) from customers, carriage fees, landing fees, and placement fees to include channels from small broadcasters. The broadcaster executive suggested that they reduce their NCF rates if they were worried about tariff increases for consumers.

According to Trai's directive, the NCF fees that consumers must pay each month are 130 and 160 correspondingly. A consumer receives 100 free channels for '130, and 200 free channels for '160.

Nonetheless, according to broadcasters, the majority of these NCF channels are free for a cable operator.

Trai has stated that consumers can save money Every user can now receive 228 TV channels instead of the 100 channels they previously had, in a maximum NCF of '130, saving up to '40–'50 on the network capacity fee (NCF). Also, the updated NCF for multi-TV houses has made it possible for consumers to save an additional 60% on second (and additional) television sets, according to Trai's ruling.