Free-to-air TV channels face uncertainty after TRAI’s new DTH, cable pricing regime

When Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India started measuring rural India in October 2015, free-to-air (FTA) TV channels benefitted in terms of viewership and subsequently advertising revenues, giving paid general entertainment channels (GECs) something to chew on.

Fast forward to the present, and the uncertainty around the new Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) tariff regime remains. And amid this uproar, FTA channels are back in the spotlight. Channels like Zee Anmol, Star Utsav, Colors Rishtey and Sony Pal incur just a basic network capacity charge levied by the cable operators.

As per the new order, the FTA base pack will consist of 100 channels in all, which will be sold at a price of `130 collectively. The platform carriage fee and which channels are to be included in the FTA pack will be at the sole discretion of the multiple system operators (MSOs) based on consumer demand.