DTH Update
Tata Sky Does Away With HD Access Fee After Two Years Of Exorbitant Pricing
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has brought into effect the new tariff regime which forced the DTH providers and cable operators to make drastic changes to their pricing schemes along with pushing the consumers to adapt to the brand-new plans. Tata Sky was one of the providers in the country which issued its list of channel packs and pricing later than all the other providers. The DTH platform was also locked in a struggle with the high court over its delayed channel packs listing and was also on the verge of receiving a ‘black screen‘ from TRAI. However, now the provider has finally come out with its channel packs, and the icing on the cake is that it has also done away with the HD access fee. If you don’t know about Tata Sky’s specific pricing technique and the effect of this new change, keep reading.
What is Tata Sky HD Access Fee?
If you are a Tata Sky subscriber, then you will know that Tata Sky has a different way of pricing its packs as it includes the HD channels even in its base pack. The service provider, however, charges an HD access fee for the subscriber which they have to pay to access the HD channels. It is worth remembering that back in 2015 when HD channels were catching the whiff of popularity nationwide, Tata Sky occupied the largest share of India’s DTH subscriber base and as such the platform decided to hike the prices of its HD access fee. The monthly fee for HD access was increased by Rs 50 from Rs 125 to Rs 175. The semi-monthly and the annual fee for the same was also hiked, from Rs 750 to Rs 990 and Rs 1,500 to Rs 1,925 respectively. As you would expect, the subscribers of Tata Sky were not happy with the move but to watch the HD channels, the consumers had no choice but to make do with the new arrangement.
Tata Sky HD Access Fee and Kids Pack Removed
But, with the new Trai tariff mandate in place, Tata Sky has come up with a new change in its pricing and has entirely revoked the HD access fee. Now, the provider will be operating on a different pricing scheme as it will charge a network access fee with a base pack price of Rs 130 plus GST for 100 SD channels or 50 HD channels. On top that, the provider will be charging NCF for channels plus the charge of the pay channels as the total cost for the subscribers. This new pricing pattern means that the provider will have no place in its pricing for the HD access fee. Tata Sky conveyed this news to the subscribers via a text SMS. The provider also added in the SMS that it has removed the Kids pack from its portfolio thus making it unavailable for any further subscription by the consumers. Tata Sky is informing its customers about this change via a text message.―Telecom Talk
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