Hello
there,
As you might have known by now, w.e.f. February 1st, there
has been a change in the way we pay or subscribe for TV Channels. The customer
has been given the power to choose any channel of his/her choice by paying the
fee, prescribed by the broadcaster. The maximum rate of a channel has been
capped at Rs. 19/-.
I am sure most of you will be wondering how to select the
best set of Channels such that you get the best of language, sports,
entertainment, infotainment, movies and spiritual. Well, I thought I will try
to help you in this regard.
Your payment to the Service Provider has two components.
The first one is called the Network Capacity Fee (NCF). It is like a
rental charge of the TV connection to your home. The other is the price of
any pay channels that you select
Network Capacity Fee (NCF)
The base plan is Rs. 130/- for 100 Channels. This can be
free-to-air (FTA) channels or Pay channels (SD or HD). Most service providers
are fooling customers by providing a compulsory bouquet of 100 FTA channels and
offering Pay channels as addition. But, it is clearly given in TRAI notification
that, this can be FTA or Pay Channels as per the choice of the subscriber. This is also clearly given in response to Question 12 in the Frequently Asked Questions released by TRAI.
In addition to this 100 channels, if the subscriber wishes
to view/subscribe to more channels, then he/she will have to pay Rs. 20/- for
an additional 25 channels. Another Rs. 20/- will get you 25 more channels and
so on. So, for watching 150 channels, the Network Capacity Fee (NCF) will be
Rs. 170/- plus taxes. As per TRAI website, there are 534 FTA Channels. But, one
can choose only those FTA channels which are offered by the Service provider.
Also one HD Channel
takes the network capacity of two SD channels. So, the 130/- rupee
base plan, can be a mix of SD as well as HD Channels. As an illustration, if
one chooses only SD channels, the base plan will get you 100 channels whereas
if one chooses only HD channels, you can enjoy 50 channels in high definition
for the same amount.
For
the complete list of FTA Channels as provided by TRAI, click the link below:
For the
list of FTA Channels provided by Asianet, click the link: Asianet
FTA Channels
Pay Channel Price
Each channel has been priced from zero to Rs. 19/-, and this
is being shown in the TV alongside the channel name for the past few weeks.
While one can opt to select individual channels and pay for it, a quick perusal
of the bouquets offered by the broadcasters will show that it is cheaper and
wise to opt for such bouquets as you get more channels for the price of two or
three main channels offered by them.
For example, the bouquet 'Kerala Basic' offered by the Sun
TV Network is charged at Rs. 20/- for 5 channels whereas the sum of individual
channel price comes to Rs. 36/-. Thus, it is better to check out the bouquets
offered by the broadcasters rather that opting individual channels.
Kerala Basic
|
1
|
Surya TV |
12.00
|
20.00
|
2
|
Surya Movies |
11.00
|
||
3
|
Kochu TV |
5.00
|
||
4
|
Surya Music |
4.00
|
||
5
|
Surya Comedy |
4.00
|
||
Total Sum of MRP
|
36.00
|
A complete, broadcaster wise list of bouquets, is available
for download in the TRAI website in PDF as well as MS Excel format. You can
download the same by clicking the link below:
TRAI has launched a web portal to help consumers to select
the channels of their choice and estimate their monthly bill. Facility has also
been provided to take a print out or to download this list of selected TV Channels, so
that the same can be sent to the TV Service provider to facilitate exercising
of the subscriber option. To visit this site click the link below:
TRAI has launched another web portal containing the
'Frequently asked questions', rates of all Pay TV Channels, the bouquets
offered by the broadcasters etc. To visit this site click the link below:
For your convenience, I have sorted out the Free-to-air channels provided by Asianet in Kerala according to the language. You can download the PDF or MS-Excel file, tick the last column and then submit to your nearby Asianet office.
I would like to introduce you the channel packages offered by some of the major broadcasters, so that you won't have to download the list to select the channels.
1. Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd
The Zee Network has only one Malayalam Channel, i.e. Zee Keralam. The SD Channel costs 10 paise where as the HD is priced at Rs. 8/-. If you feel like subscribing to either of these, it is better to choose this individually rather than any bouquets. These are the complete list of channels and their MRP as offered by Zee.
2. Sony Pictures Networks India Pvt Ltd
The Sony Pictures are offering a number of good channels. Their main channels include: Sports: Sony ESPN, Sony Six, Ten 1, Ten 2 and Ten 3; Movies: Sony PIX, AXN. If you are a sports and movie enthusiast, I would suggest the highlighted bouquet to you.
3. TV 18 Broadcast Ltd
The TV 18 group are offering channels like Colors, Comedy Central, History TV 18, History Channel, MTV, VH1, Nick, Nick Jr etc. If the cost of your selected individual channel exceeds Rs.8/-, go for the whole bouquet. Also keep in mind the Network Capacity you have.
4. Star India Pvt Ltd
The Star India group offers the largest number of pay channels. The major channels include Asianet, Asianet Movies, Asianet Plus, Nat Geo, NGC, all STAR Channels, Sports 1,2,3; Sports First, Sports Select 1,2 and many more!! They are offering single, dual and triple language wise bouquets to suit the customer. Their Kerala bouquet is good and I suggest the same. You can always download the full list from the link given above which contains the HD channel packs and check out if you wish.
The Star India group offers the largest number of pay channels. The major channels include Asianet, Asianet Movies, Asianet Plus, Nat Geo, NGC, all STAR Channels, Sports 1,2,3; Sports First, Sports Select 1,2 and many more!! They are offering single, dual and triple language wise bouquets to suit the customer. Their Kerala bouquet is good and I suggest the same. You can always download the full list from the link given above which contains the HD channel packs and check out if you wish.
5. Discovery Communications
The Discovery group offers 5 major channels. The 'Base Plan' is good, but do check out the 'Family' and 'Sports' Pack as the rate difference between the three is insignificant.
6. Sun TV Network
The Sun TV Network is another major channel giant, offering channels in all South Indian languages. They are offering a total of 26 bouquets for the customer to choose from. The "Kerala Basic' plan is good. But if you want selected Tamil Channels, 'Kerala Prime' will be the better choice.
7. TV Today Network
The TV Today Network offers 3 news channels as given below. If you are interested, go for it.
8. NDTV Limited
The NDTV offers 4 channels as listed out. Again, if you are interested, you may choose to subscribe.
9. Turner International
The Turner International offers, the kids' favourite, Cartoon Network and Pogo channels in addition to movie channels like HBO and WB. The selection of bouquet is a simple affair. If you want HBO, opt the 'Family Pack' else go for 'Kids Pack' if there are little ones in your home. Don't forget to keep a check on your network capacity!
10. Times Network
The Times Network offers major News channels; Times Now and Mirror Now along with Movie channels; Movies Now, MNX and Romedy Now. Again, If you want the movie channels, you know which bouquet to choose, don't you? Happy selection!!
11. Disney
The Disney group offers the following channels. You may opt as per requirement.
12. Other Broadcasters
Other Broadcasters include Eenadu Television Pvt Ltd (ETV), Raj Television Network Ltd, Silverstar Communications Ltd, ABP News Network, Mavis Satcom Limited and Odisha Television. Please download the whole bouquet list from the link to check out the channels offered by these group as well as the HD Channels offered by the Broadcasters mentioned above.
Bouquet of Pay channels offered by Broadcasters as on 31.01.2019 - MS Excel - PDF
Bouquet of Pay channels offered by Broadcasters as on 31.01.2019 - MS Excel - PDF
Update 1 (08.02.2019, 10:20 pm):
Airtel Digital TV
Broadcasters Bouquets offered by Airtel Digital TV
FTA Channels offered by Airtel Digital TV
It is disheartening to note that neither Asianet Digital nor Airtel Digital TV are offering the option to the subscriber to select the FTA Channels of his/her choice. While Airtel Digital TV does offer all the bouquets declared by broadcasters, Asianet, is not offering them. I tried to raise a complaint with TRAI. But the search engine didn't direct me to any complaint link. If the subscriber is not given the power to select the FTA channels then there won't be any benefit to us from the new system. Also, there seems to be a mandatory selection of 26 Doordarshan Channels that should be given to subscribers. But, I couldn't find any piece of information which confirms this. Let us wait and see how things turn up.
I hope this article has been useful to you. Do leave your comments and suggestions on the same!
