Mumbai: DTH operator Tata Sky has unveiled a scheme enabling its high-end subscribers to bring down their monthly Network Capacity Fee (NCF) by up to Rs 300.
To avail the benefit, the subscriber must buy the special packs offered by Tata Sky in addition to the a-la-cart channels chosen by the subscribers. These special packs, which allow customers to have a fixed monthly charge, are called ‘Lite packs’ in respective language markets. By subscribing to these packs, high-end consumers can reduce their monthly Tata Sky bill by up to Rs 300 per month.
Such ‘Lite Packs’ have been unveiled for most language markets through which the monthly NCF will be capped to Rs 99. However, it should be kept in mind that even as the monthly NCF is brought down by activating these Lite packs, the consumer will see an increase in the pay channel cost, as the Lite packs come with pay channel charges.
Even as Tata Sky has launched the new scheme of giving discounts to customers who opt for its own packs — instead of broadcaster packs or a la carte — it remains to be seen if the move will pass TRAI’s smell test due to ‘network neutrality’ issues. This is because, under TRAI’s new tariff order, the network charge has to be the same for all channels, and cannot be made different for any channel or set of channels.
For example, paragraph 81 of the explanatory memorandum in TRAI’s tariff order notes, “Distributors of television channels are free to fix Network Capacity Fee below this ceiling. However, the Network Capacity Fee will be agnostic to the type of the channel carried over the network. It cannot vary based on the channels subscribed by a subscriber.”
As such, it remains to be seen if TRAI will raise a stink over Tata Sky’s move to have a separate, lower network capacity fee exclusively for those who activate channels handpicked by it while denying the same to those who make their own packs instead of activating Tata Sky packs.
Over the past weeks, the regulator has been sending letter after letter to cable and DTH providers pointing out various violations in the way they have implemented the new tariff order, and asking them to rectify them quickly.
In this connection, TRAI noted in its consultation paper last month that many DTH and cable operators have asked for permission to charge differential network charges based on various factors such as location, the income level of the market, number of channels subscribed and so on.
For now, Tata Sky seems to be the only major distributor who has actually implemented such a scheme of differential network charges.
