TRAI Finally Admits New TV Channel Prices Have Hiked Monthly Bills

The new TV channel prices have increased monthly subscription charges for the consumers.

TV channels prices have come down but your monthly bills have gone up.

(Photo: Tata Sky altered by The Quint)

After all the denial, the main telecom body which had approved the change in tariffs of TV channels has finally admitted to the rising bills of consumers.

According to an official, quoted in the ET report, the telecom authority has accepted the changes haven’t gone according to its plan.

This has been repeatedly pointed out by DTH users across the internet since February this year but the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) felt the changes have helped users reduce their monthly TV bills.

Reports previously indicated that people opting for channels after the revised pricing will save money by reducing the number of channels they pay for. However, in reality, the process seems to be working the other way around and TRAI agreeing to this makes a big difference.

Even while going through the new channel prices, and selecting packs that suit our needs, the newer pricing regime, via the a-la-carte process was working out to be more expensive than what we’re paying right now.

To fix this mess created by TRAI in the first place, along with the broadcasters, the source was quoted saying that a consultation paper is in the works which will look at reducing the current tariffs.

Bundling so many channels together is a hard task in itself and no wonder people on social media have been cribbing about the pain one has to go through, just to get their favourite channels on their television screen.

TRAI from the outset had good intentions while revising the tariffs, wanting people to pay less for viewing channels on the big screens. But clearly, their structure has been either tweaked by the service providers, which has lead to an increase of over Rs 100 on the current TV subscription costs for the consumer.

We’re glad that TRAI is now looking to fix this issue, which will definitely be welcomed by the consumer, having said that TV broadcasters might have to contend with lower TV revenues.