While consumers say their cable bills have shot way out of budget, cable operators say their profits have seen a drastic drop
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The Telecom Regulation Authority of India's new regulations of making consumers select and pay only for channels they wish to watch seems to have ended up causing more trouble for both consumers and cable operators. While customers claim they are paying far more in cable charges, cable operators claim their profit margins have dropped drastically and customers are discontinuing their subscriptions by the dozen.
Madhumita Sadadekar, a resident of Four Bungalows, Andheri, said, "We initially thought there would be some kind of discount offered, but our monthly amount has gone up by Rs 100, from Rs 350 to Rs 450. A normal household cannot afford such high charges for watching television."
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Disgruntled cable operators said in the past month, their profits have dropped by at least 30 per cent and they are steadily losing customers to DTH services or online platforms. Feroz Mahimkar, a cable operator with IndusInd Media and Communications Limited (InCable) claims he has lost 315 customers in one month alone over high charges.
Mahimkar said unlike earlier, when he would get Rs 200 per package, which would allow a customer more than 300 channels, now cable operators are making less than Rs 100. "According to the new rules, a customer pays a minimum of Rs 153 for 100 free-to-air channels. Of that, cable operators have to pay Rs 46 to distributors or multi-system operators, which leaves us with only Rs 91," he said. He said if the cost of each channel is reduced to Rs 3-5, then people would be able to choose more channels.
The confusion is leading to blowouts between customers and their cable operators. Shehzad Khan, a cable operator from Mazgaon said, "Customers especially senior citizens are unable to understand the new rules and think they are being cheated. They want the old channels back and find the new system very expensive," he said.
Cable operators feel that the government is helping private players. "The TRAI took the decision without involving cable operators in the process. It is well known that 70 per cent of consumers take cable TV as it is the cheapest option. This decision has been taken to push people towards online platforms," said another cable operator on condition of anonymity.
When contacted, Anil Bharadwaj, adviser (broadcasting and cable services) at TRAI stated that the new regulations were formed to improve transparency and it was never about pricing.
"The previous system and the new one are not comparable. Nobody watches 300 channels. Based on three years' data we have gathered, on an average, a family watches between 20-40 channels," he said.
Bharadwaj pointed out that once the new system stabilises, the consumer will be the winner in the long run. "We never said we will reduce prices. The new regulations are about consumer choice and freedom," he said.
Choose your channels
The new regulations which came into effect from February 1 state that consumers will have to pay a basic amount (Rs 130 + 18 per cent GST) for 100 Standard Definition (SD) 'free-to-air' channels which include 26 Doordarshan channels.
Other prime channels have individual prices capped at Rs 19 each. For most people, they now have to shell out a substantially higher subscription cost to watch all channels that were otherwise offered by cable operators at Rs 300-Rs 350 for SD channels or Rs 500-Rs 550 for HD channels.
The alternative is to pay the earlier amount and have access to fewer channels. On an average, cable operators say that consumers now have to shell out Rs 600-Rs 700 for SD and Rs 800-Rs 900 for HD.
Also Read: Mumbai: Andheri society ditches cable guy of 20 years for DTH
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