Telcos ask TRAI to fix channel price for IPTV

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http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/phot...id=3003009

Quote: NEW DELHI: Telecom operators planning to offer Internet protocol TV (IPTV) services, where one can get all TV channels via fixed line, has urged telecom regulator TRAI to fix prices for channels on this platform. BSNL, MTNL, Reliance and Bharti, among others, have urged the telecom regulator to fix channel prices.

TRAI chairman Nripendra Misra confirmed the development. “Several telecom operators providing IPTV services or planning to do so have approached us on this issue. They have said that since IPTV is an addressable platform to deliver content just like DTH, we should have similar regulations here too with regard to fixing of channel prices. We are looking into the matter.”

As of now, only state-owned telcos BSNL and MTNL are offering IPTV services in select cities. So their franchisee partners like Aksh Optifibres, Time Broadband and IOL Broadband strike revenue deals with broadcastersfor getting content on these platforms.

Industry sources claim that even though IPTV is a niche segment, broadcasters ask for significantly higher prices than being offered to analogue, DTH or CAS platforms and usually ask for a minimum subscriber guarantee.

A senior executive that is partnering BSNL and MTNL to provide IPTV services said, “As franchisees, we have been discussing the issue of high costs that we have to bear for getting various channels on the IPTV platform.

Therefore, we have asked our partner telecom players to urge the government to lower the acquisition cost of content on the platform,” he said. He added that even though IPTV is considered to be the cheapest digital service, it does not enjoy the same benefits being extended to CAS and DTH players like fixed pricing.

Telecom companies and franchisees believe that a lower content acquisition cost will ensure that they would reach the break-even point faster. This, in turn, will ensure that they would be able to roll out IPTV services in other cities faster, especially in rural areas where high cost of a set-top box is a barrier for extending CAS to these areas.

For instance, to subscribe to MTNL IPTV services in New Delhi, a consumer needs to have a broadband connection and can then avail IPTV services with a refundable security of Rs 999. As per the latest schemes being run, a consumer does not have to pay anything additional for the hardware as well as gets a subscription fee waiver for the first 12 months.

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