Sharath Shetty, a resident of Yelahanka, was surprised when his cable bill came up to ₹350. Every month, he used to pay ₹380 as subscription for Kannada and Hindi channels, with a couple of English channels.
Don't be surprised if your cable or Direct-to-Home (DTH) bill is less this month as many broadcasters, in an attempt to compete with Over-The-Top (OTT) media and online streaming services, have reduced their subscription rates.
According to Patrick Raju, president of the Karnataka State Cable TV Operators' Association, the reduction in subscription rates, however, applies only to those who have chosen the channels on an a la carte basis and not in packages.
“After the Deepavali festival, some broadcasters introduced special festival packages. The same rates have been continued,” he said and added that the reduction in subscription rates for some channels by broadcasters also applies to DTH subscribers.
Mr. Raju said that the number of people watching regular TV channels had come down. This, he claimed, was especially true after the new tariff order by TRAI came into effect in February this year.
“Consumers were affected as they had to pay more for fewer channels. This was when the viewership of OTT services, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hotstar, increased, and that of the channels reduced to some extent,” he said.
Pruthvi B., a lecturer in a private college, said that the TV is mainly used to watch content on OTT, rather than channels on DTH. “We use DTH only to watch news channels; and even that is just for one hour a day,” he said.
Mr. Raju believes that the broadcasters had reduced the subscription rates in a bid to increase viewership. “The viewership of many channels has been reducing. However, the marginal reduction in rates is not going to affect viewership much,” he added.
