How Much Will Tata Sky Subscribers Pay for Secondary Connections After Discontinued Multi-TV Policy?

Highlights

• Every subscriber will have to pay the Rs 153 NCF mandatorily
• There will be full flexibility of choosing channels without the multi-TV policy

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had various adverse on the DTH and broadcasting industry through the introduction of the new Trai regulatory rules. Due to these new norms, the industry had to go through a ton of ordeals to change as per the rules, thus putting subscribers and the DTH companies both under inconvenience. However, there is one area where there has been further development, and it has got to do with multiple-TV connections in houses. One of the major players in the industry, Tata Sky, has decided to do away with its multi-TV policy totally and is now going to charge separately for every connection. This is obviously a big decision on the provider’s behalf, and the subscribers are now asking what does this really entail?

Rs 153 NCF Now Mandatory for All Connections

Another grey area which Tata Sky was touching with its multi-TV policy had to do with the channels which the customers were able to watch on their secondary TVs. The Tata Sky subscribers with multi-TV connections were experiencing mirroring of channels, meaning that they had to see the same channels as their primary connection, and this also hindered the flexibility of the subscribers. Now, given all these reasons, Tata Sky finally decided to make the shift to a new pricing structure for multiple-TV connections. As TelecomTalk confirmed with the Tata Sky customer service team, we got to know that now the Rs 153 NCF will be applicable for all DTH connections across India, without exception.

Tata Sky Multi-TV Policy in Breach of New Trai Tariff Regime

To understand the basis of this decision by Tata Sky, it is worth looking at some of the clauses which Trai had set for multi-TV policies of the DTH providers. Trai in its regulatory framework had said that there was no limit of discount that a DTH provider could offer on multiple-TV connection NCF, however, the content charge of a particular connection was to be charged as it is without any discount from the subscription bearer. Hence, we got to see such a wide variety of multi-TV policies in the market, including Dish TV’s flat Rs 50 NCF and Airtel Digital TV’s Rs 80 NCF policy.

Now with this being said, Tata Sky’s multi-TV policy was starting to create problems as it followed a pricing bracket structure and there was no clear way to find out how much exactly the subscribers were paying as NCF or as content charges. As such, Tata Sky violated the new tariff regime. Unlike other DTH providers who could give a separate bill for NCF and content charges to their subscribers, Tata Sky could not do so for its customers.