Tariff Order for Broadcasters and Digital Systems

A new tariff framework has been proposed which will provide customers with adequate choice to select channels of their choice while ensuring transparency in the entire value chain.

Salient features of the draft tariff order:

• Broadcasters to declare maximum retail price (MRP) (excluding taxes) of their a-la-carte pay-channels for subscribers.
• A broadcaster can also offer bouquet of its pay-channels and declare MRP (excluding taxes) of bouquetfor subscribers. However MRP of such bouquet(s) of pay-channels will not be less than 85 percent of the sum of maximum retail price of the a-la-carte pay-channels forming part of the bouquet.
• Genre-wise ceiling on MRP of channels have been prescribed.
• Broadcasters can introduce premium channels which have no ceiling on MRP and will be offered to subscribers only on a-la-carte basis.
• Distributors of television channels permitted to form bouquets only from a-la-carte channels of broadcasters. However, retail price of such bouquet of pay-channels will not be less than 85 percent of the sum of retail prices of the a-la-carte pay-channels forming part of the bouquet.
• Separate bouquet for pay- and free-to-air channels.
• Charges payable by a subscriber for network capacity and content have been separated.
• Monthly rental amount of maximum Rs. 130 (excluding taxes) per set-top box, to be paid by a subscriber to the distributor of television channels for a capacity of 100 SD channels.
• Within the capacity of 100 SD channels, in addition to channels notified by the central government to be mandatorily provided to subscribers, a subscriber will be free to choose any free-to-air channels, pay-channels, premium channels, or bouquets of channels offered by the broadcastersor bouquets of channels offered by the distributor of television channels.
• No separate charges, other than the rental amount, to be paid by the subscribers for subscribing to free-to-air channels or bouquet of free-to-air channels.
• The additional capacity, beyond initial one hundred channels capacity, can be availed by a subscriber in the slabs of 25 SD channels each, by paying an amount not exceeding Rs. 20 per such slab, excluding taxes.A subscriber can chose a-la-carte channels of its choice.
• A subscriber has to pay separate charges, other than the rental amount, for subscribing to pay-channels, or premium channels, or bouquet of pay-channels.
• Distributors of television channels have to offer at least one bouquet, referred to as basic service tier, of 100 free-to-air channels including all the channels notified by the central government to be mandatorily provided to the subscribers.
• Any bouquet, formed by either the broadcaster or the distributor of television channels, will not contain HD and SD variants of the same channel as well as any premium channel.