DTH and cable TV bills going up won’t help the struggling sector

Broadcasters are happy with the fact that they are going to earn more. But it seems like an oversight by the regulator and the industry. The growth of the internet is definitely going to explore more people to the world of OTT content. The best thing about OTT is that you control the experience that you get. Whether you want to stream in 4K or HD, it is on you.

Direct-to-Home (DTH) services will be more expensive for users in India after the implementation of the New Tariff Order (NTO) 3.0 from Feb 1, 2023. The immediate question that comes to mind is how is it a good move from the DTH companies? The shift to OTT (over-the-top) platforms by Indian consumers is happening as you read this. Rising DTH prices would only help with the growth of OTT platforms. The NTO 3.0 is the major reason behind the price increase.

Broadcasters are Happy, but the Move Feels Wrong
Broadcasters are happy with the fact that they are going to earn more. But it seems like an oversight by the regulator and the industry. The growth of the internet is definitely going to explore more people to the world of OTT content. The best thing about OTT is that you control the experience that you get. Whether you want to stream in 4K or HD, it is on you. Further, whatever you want to watch and whenever you want to watch it, you have it under your control with the OTT platforms. The same is not the case with traditional cable TV services and DTH platforms.

While the DTH platforms are also integrating OTT into their services, that won’t help the companies with their DTH business. It would definitely be a new source of revenue, but would it be the primary source of revenue – there’s a big “if” around that question. The increase in cost for consuming services in a market that is already feeling the effects of global inflation is not going to help the DTH operators.

In the short term, the DTH operators may make better revenues out of each subscriber, but in the medium-to-long term, that’s only going to push away the users. The broadcasters can partner with the IPTV service providers and keep their business alive, but at the end of the day, it is going to be the DTH companies that are going to be feeling the heat of price hikes in services.

Cable TV operators and broadcasters have recently ended their dramatic fight over the implementation of NTO 3.0. It didn’t result in much good for anyone involved. The DTH players have been losing subscribers, and it is going to happen further as the internet reaches more parts of the country and more users get habituated to watching content on OTT. Telecomtalk