MUMBAI: Leading direct to home (DTH) operator Tata Sky on Thursday finally unveiled the new pricing of channels and packs after it was served a show-cause notice by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). With just a week for the new tariff order to kick in Tata Sky’s decision to announce its pricing comes as a relief to consumers, some of whom had even complained about the same to the TRAI.
According to a report by news agency PTI, TRAI's show-cause notice said, "Tata Sky has failed to provide options to its 17.7 million subscribers in compliance with the new framework to exercise their choices for TV channels. Tata Sky has put its subscribers in a situation of great difficulty despite no fault of theirs by not complying with the provisions of the new regulations and the tariff order.”
Despite the delay in announcing channel prices, Tata Sky MD and CEO Harit Nagpal is confident that his team can complete the tricky task of implementing the new norms within a relatively short span of time.
“Tata Sky has always been compliant to regulatory requirements. We have gone live with our modes of communication across the Tata Sky website, Tata Sky mobile app and also equipped the dealers that subscribers can reach out to. We were confident that we would be able to complete the task in 1 week’s time. hence we used this time to create a seamless and smooth transition for all our subscribers. We have ensured that choosing channels and packs is as easy as 1, 2, 3 for any subscriber,” the veteran executive said.
The DTH operator has come up with a number of packs that will serve consumers of different interests. The packs not only focus on several genres like entertainment, news, sports, and lifestyle but also on all the regions across the country. Even in terms of pricing, the packs provided by the DTH operator offers a wide variety. Apart from its own packages, Tata Sky has also updated the information about broadcasters’ packages and price of the channels available on a-la-carte basis.
For making the transition easier for its subscribers, a dedicated pack selection portal has also been provided on the website. Users need to log in via their registered mobile number or subscriber ID, post which they can exercise the options.
The DTH operator has also notified that users with long duration packs will be migrated to monthly packs starting 1 February and the remaining balance will be credited to their Tata Sky account.
Tata Sky is currently embroiled in a legal battle, of which Bharti Telemedia-owned Airtel Digital TV and Sun Direct are a part, with the TRAI in the Delhi High Court. Unlike the position Star India had adopted, wherein it questioned the regulatory powers of TRAI, the matter in the Delhi HC questions the regulator’s power to wipe out deals that operators enter into to fix commissions and rates for customers. The court is likely to pronounce its verdict in the matter on 28 January.
In a press release issued by the TRAI on Thursday, it had singled out one DTH operator for not providing options to its subscribers to exercise their choices. The press note also mentioned that the said DTH operator had assured in writing that it would comply with the new regulatory framework.
TRAI wrote to all broadcasters and DPOs, asking them to comply by the new regulatory framework within the stipulated time. The regulator has also revealed that 40 per cent of consumers have exercised their option of selecting TV channels under the new tariff order.
