Watching TV to become cheaper!

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Good news for all those who prefer sitting glued to the idiot box! Telecom sector’s regulatory body, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said on its website that it has pitched before the Government of India (GoI) that levy of license fees on Direct-To-Home (DTH) operators should be reduced from current eight per cent to three per cent and eventually bring it down to zero per cent, thus, providing room for DTH players to reduce tariffs of DTH recharge plans. If the GoI reduces the license fees, then, it will enable DTH operators like Tata Play, Airtel Digital TV, etc to reduce tariffs of DTH recharge plans charged from customers for services provided.

What is License Fees?

DTH players are required to pay license fees on quarterly basis to the GoI. The license fees is calculated a percentage of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) of the DTH operators.

Why Trai wants you to pay less for watching TV?

Television viewing is continuously falling in India. According to Trai, number of active DTH connections in household in India fell from 7.1 crore in September, 2020, to 6.5 crore in June, 2023. DTH players lost approximately 52 lakh subscribers during this period. And this falling trend is likely to continue. Reducing recharge plans of TV channel packages will help capture this trend of falling number of subscribers to some extent.

On the other hand, Over The Top (OTT) subscribers are continuously rising in the country. Albeit, OTT is a newer concept in India. Even then, OTT has already taken over DTH business in terms of number of subscribers in the country. According to a report published in late 2022 by media consulting firm Ormax, there were 11.9 crore OTT active subscribers in the county, which is way more than TV subscriptions!

But will reducing channel prices bring back people in front of idiot box?

OTT streaming devices bring in huge ease of access for viewers. You can watch any episode of an OTT specific web series any number of times, from wherever you want and at any time of the day. While, for watching an episode of a TV serial being broadcasted by a DTH operator, you will have to wait for the exact time it would be broadcasted. If you miss, then, you would have to find out when repeat telecast will be broadcasted. Plus, you cannot watch episodes of a TV serial any number of times and not at your own will. In a nutshell, the ease of access and comfort viewers get on OTT, they can never get on TV. Even reducing TV channel prices may not bring people in front of TV!