MUMBAI: Star India will launch four new channels Vijay Music, Star Movies Select, Star Sports 3 HD, and Disney Channel HD. It is also rebranding Movies OK as Star Gold 2. Except for Disney Channel HD, all the other four channels will launch/rebrand on 1 February 2020. Meanwhile, the Disney Channel HD to be rolled-out from 1 March 2020. A new entrant in Tamil music section, Vijay Music is priced at Re 1 per month and to compete with other channels the same segment such as Raj Television Network’s Raj Musix, Sun Network’s Sun Music, Jaya TV Network’s Jaya MAX. The broadcaster has decided to add Star Movies Select to cater the audiences in standard definition (SD) category as premiere movies channel, in addition to Star Movies Select HD (high definition). To give larger-than-life experience to customers, the broadcaster to start Star Sports 3 HD at a price of Rs 5 per month, in addition to existing Star Sports 3 in the SD category. Meanwhile, it is also to come up with second HD kids’ channel, Disney Channel HD that will cost around Rs 10 per month.

MUMBAI: In week 51 of BARC India ratings, regional segment witnessed one new entry in the Bangla space. Sun Bangla was the new entrant replacing Zee Bangla Cinema in the fifth position.

Zee Bangla, Star Jalsha, Jalsha Movies, Colors Bangla and Sun Bangla were the top five Bangla channels in week 51 of BARC India ratings.

New Delhi: The Broadcast Sector expressed its shock and dismay with the latest notification from TRAI issued on 1st January 2020, amending the new tariff order (NTO) and interconnection regulations.

As per the new amendments, TRAI has reduced the cap on the MRP of individual channels, which can form part of any bouquet, to Rs.12 per month, from the earlier cap of Rs.19. Less than a year ago, TRAI itself determined that the price per channel can be Rs.19, which has now been reduced to Rs.12 without giving any logical reason. Thus making the change totally arbitrary. The regulator has also sought to impose twin conditions for bouquet formation, effectively introducing a cap on bouquet pricing which was left untouched in the NTO. Coming barely a few months after TRAI notified the NTO effecting a disruptive change of the distribution ecosystem, these amendments will severely impair broadcasters’ ability to compete with other unregulated platforms and adversely affect the viability of the pay TV industry.

MUMBAI: 2019 was all about implementation and the impact of new tariff order (NTO). It has been a year of disruption and innovation for the industry. Overall it was a challenging year for niche channels but throughout the year, channels made various efforts to overcome them and retain its consumer base. Going forward in 2020, leading English GECs, Zee Café and Colors Infinity, plan to offer innovative and engaging content to strengthen their subscriber base. The sector hopes for stability and positive growth in the broadcast industry. 

“NTO implemented in Feb 2019 impacted reach and ad sales and broadcasters have been managing this change to get to a new equilibrium. We hope proposed tweaks to the regulation will further help stability,” says Times Network MD and CEO MK Anand. “Consolidation in the M&E sector will continue in FY'20. This will have a positive impact on cost efficiencies and the overall

TRAI has released a fresh set of amendments to the tariff order with continued focus towards consumer benefit, wherein opting for channels on a-la-carte basis has been given preference over purchase of channel bouquets.

But what do the amendments actually mean? How does it impact the industry?

While broadcasters are yet to decode the fine points of the amendment, experts are calling this NTO 2.0. According to them this is yet another disruptive move for broadcasters much like the implementation of NTO in February 2019 that massively impacted reach and ad sales.

MUMBAI: Even as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has notified amendments to the new tariff order (NTO), broadcaster Star India has decided to revise the price of its channels effective 1st February 2020.

The broadcaster said that the current MRP is for existing distribution platform operators (DPO) and shall be valid till 31st January 2020. Incidentally, the amended tariff order and regulations come into force from March 2020.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has made significant amendments to its Tariff Order, Interconnection Regulations and Quality of Services Regulations of 2017 for the Broadcasting and Cable Services sector. The move will result in ‘capped monthly carriage fees’, capped pricing for pay channels to become a part of bouquets’, ‘capped number of bouquets of pay channels offered by broadcasters’ and ‘increased number of free-to-air channels’.

In a blow to multi-system operators and direct-to-home players, the regulator has capped the monthly carriage fees at Rs 4 lakh for broadcasting a channel in India. There was no cap on the amount operators could charge broadcasters previously.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has made significant amendments to its Tariff Order, Interconnection Regulations and Quality of Services Regulations of 2017 for the Broadcasting and Cable Services sector. The move will result in ‘capped monthly carriage fees’, capped pricing for pay channels to become a part of bouquets’, ‘capped number of bouquets of pay channels offered by broadcasters’ and ‘increased number of free-to-air channels’.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has granted permission to 10 new multi-system operators (MSOs) license from 26 November to 31 December 2019. The total number of registered MSOs has increased to 1616 from 1606 on 26 November 2019.

Sri Laxmi Narasimha Swamy Communication, DVR Siti Digital, M.D. Cable Network, Blue Star Cable Services, Unify Netsol Pvt. Ltd, Feroz Digital Networks, Shiva Sai Laxmi Communications, Array Access Digital Services Pvt. Ltd., RealTouch Cable & Broadband Pvt. Ltd., Shiv Cable Network and Gollaleshwar are among the ten MSOs who have got the license. Out of these 11 licensed MSOs, six are proprietorship, three are a company and one is partnership based firms.

MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has given a rude shock to the broadcasting sector on the first day of 2020 by amending the new tariff order (NTO) and interconnection regulations. These changes will have huge ramifications for the sector that had slowly begun to recover from the twin shocks of NTO in the first half of 2019 and the ad slowdown.

Faced with consumer criticism, the TRAI has decided to put a cap on the a-la-carte price of channels as well as place reasonable restrictions on the formation of bouquets. The TRAI has also prescribed that distribution platform operators (DPOs) must provide 200 channels for a network capacity fee (NCF) of Rs 130. The amended provisions will come into effect from 1st March 2020.