Sony, TV18 publish RIO in compliance of TRAI’s new tariff framework

Broadcasters Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) and TV18 have published their respective reference interconnect offer (RIO) documents listing MRP of channels and bouquet rates.

The two companies follow ZEEL which was the first to publish the RIO document. Other pay broadcasters had still not published their RIO documents. Star India has not filed its RIO since its case against the tariff order is listed for Wednesday.

SPNI and TV18 distribute their channels through their distribution arms Sony Pictures Networks Distribution (SPND) and IndiaCast Media Distribution. SPND and IndiaCast also distribute third-party channels.

SPND is the authorised distribution agent of TV Today Network channels while IndiaCast has been distributing Turner International India channels from April.

Sony’s distribution arm has declared the MRP of its 18 SD and 14 HD channels. IndiaCast has listed the MRP of 55 channels of TV18 and Viacom18.

IndiaCast has converted its five free to air (FTA) channels to pay. Viacom18’s Rishtey and TV18’s News18 India, News18 Kerala, News18 Tamil Nadu, and News18 Assam/North East have become pay under the new regime.

Sony has also converted its only FTA channel Sony Wah as pay.

Sony’s MRP for SD channels is in the range of Rs 1 to Rs 19. Sony Entertainment Television (SET), Sony Sab, Sony Max and the sports cluster has been priced at Rs 19. The MRP for Sony Mix is Rs 15 while that of AXN and Sony Marathi is Rs 10. Other channels have been priced below Rs 5.

The HD channels have been priced in range from Rs 5 to Rs 19. SET HD, Sony Max HD, Sony Pix HD, SAB HD and sports channels have been priced at Rs 19 each. SXN HD and Le Plex HD have been priced at Rs 15 while Sony Marathi HD is available at an MRP of Rs 16.

The broadcaster has multuple bouquets including BST regular, SPN blockbuster, South Mini, South Bahubali, Big HD, and South HD. The network has Bangla and Marathi variants for BST regular and SPN blockbuster bouquets. The lowest bouquet rate is Rs 55 for BST regular while the SPN blockbuster bouquet with Marathi is the costliest at Rs 90.9. The Big HD bouquet is priced at Rs 116.

IndiaCast distributed channels are priced in the range of Rs 0.5 to Rs 19. The entertainment channels have been priced above Rs 10 with Colors and Colors Kannada boasting of an MRP of Rs 19.

CNBC TV18, CNN-News18, and CNBC Awaaz have been priced Rs 5, Rs 3 and Rs 2 respectively. Other news channels have been priced between Rs 0.5 to Rs 1.

The HD channel MRP is in the range of Rs 6 to Rs 19. IndiaCast has created an India base bouquet priced Rs 79 followed by multiple regional bouquets based Hindi, Maharastra, Odia, Gujarat, Tamil, Telugu, Kerala, and Karnataka for both SD and HD.

The bouquets are in two forms base and ultra. The base bouquet has mass channels while the ultra bouquet has mass as well as premium channels.