No signs of lower cable bills

Caught in a legal tangle with broadcasters unwilling to unbundle their pay channels due to lack of addressability of cable services in large parts of the country, over 70 million cable homes will continue to pay high cable bills even after December 1.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), also the broadcast regulator, had brought out a new tariff order for non-CAS cable homes to bring uniformity in monthly cable bills.

The tariff order has been challenged in the appellate tribunal, the TDSAT.

After the implementation of the tariff order from December 1, the cable operators were required to offer consumers a minimum of 30 free-to-air channels for Rs 77 across all towns and a package of a minimum of 30 free channels and up to 20-46 channels for Rs 130-260, depending on the size of the towns.

Television companies Zee TV and Sony TV, among other channels, have challenged this order on grounds that it is neither pro-cosumers nor healthy for the growth of the cable industry. The next hearing is on December 11.

According to a senior Sony TV executive, the new tariff order will lead to errosion of the current system of collection of subscription revenue, thereby harming the growth of the cable business.

"The tariff order empowers the cable operators and the MSOs to decide which channels they will carry. This means the consumers have no choice or say in the matter, the premise of Trai for bringing this order," says Arvind Mohan, vice-president, legal and regulatory affairs, Essel Group.

Industry observers feel that as a result of this tariff order, broadcasters will be forced to make illegal payouts to cable operators across the country for carrying their channels.

For smooth rollout of the new tariff order, the broadcasters will have to unbundle their bouquet (most broadcasters offer their channels in a bouquet and collect revenue on the basis of the number of homes reached multiplied by the bouquet price after necessary adjustments with the MSOs and cable operators).

Currenty, over 300 channels have the permission to operate in the country and another 70-odd channels are waiting for approvals from the information and broadcasting ministry.