No of Pay Channels reach 300 with 8 new additions as on Sep 2017: TRAI Report

Eight new pay channels were commenced while “Da Vinci Learning” was reported to be discontinued.

New Delhi: TRAI today has released the “Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicator Report” for the Quarter ending September 2017 for the period covering 1st July 2017 to 30th September 2017 that was compiled mainly on the basis of information furnished by the Service Providers.

Television:

A total number of 877 private satellite TV channels have been permitted by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) for uplinking only /downlinking / uplinking, as on 30th September 2017.

During the quarter ending Sep-17, there were 300 pay channels as reported by 48 broadcasters as compared to 293 pay channels reported in the previous quarter. 300 pay channels include 215 SD pay TV channels and 85 HD Pay TV channels. During the quarter ending Sep-17, as per the reporting, eight new pay channels were commenced. No pay channel was converted from Pay to FTA or vice versa. Further, one pay channel namely “Da Vinci Learning” was reported to be discontinued.

DTH:

Since its introduction in the year 2003, Indian DTH service has displayed a phenomenal growth. DTH has attained net pay active subscriber base of around 66.99 million. This is besides the viewership of the free DTH services of Doordarshan. As on QE Sep-17, there are 6 pay DTH service providers in the country.

Radio:

Apart from the radio Stations operated by All India Radio, Prasar Bharati – a public broadcaster, as on 30th September 2017, there are 322 operational private FM Radio stations and 86 existing cities with operational 34 FM Radio Operators as compared to 310 private FM Radio Stations 86 cities with operational 33 FM Radio Operators in the previous quarter.

According to the reporting of advertisement revenue done by the 33 FM Radio Service Providers, it has emerged that during the quarter ending Sep-17, twelve (12) new private FM Radio Stations have became operational.