Team-BHP - TRAI announces major overhaul of DTH pricing

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Originally Posted by Sherlocked (Post 4537127)

I tried doing that too. It was working perfectly fine if we select the default packages (similar to what we have currently) and after selecting "Confirm", it was showing the code which we need to SMS to have the package activated and the QR code option was present as well.

However, if I select individual Broadcaster packages and a-la carte, there wasn't appearing any code to SMS after confirming the new package. The QR code wasn't working either. So I was getting stuck there.:Frustrati

Strange! Couple of days or so back everything was working fine when I tried. I think as the hour approaches their website is showing signs of wilting under the load. Currently I am not even able to access the URL!

This is the response I got from tata sky when I raised a query regarding the long duration pack choice by customer based on the TRAi news posted on the thread today.

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This is with reference to your email regarding long duration pack.

LDP packs for new and existing subscribers are being discontinued in compliance with the new regulation on pricing. We are unable to offer LDP packs to our subscribers w.e.f go-live on 1st Feb 2019. The same regulation is applicable for all DTH and Cable operators. We recommend that you recharge your account for monthly charges for as many months you want to avoid the hassle of recharging every month.
If you have already paid for the Long Duration pack, with balance amount in your account you will not have the hassle of recharging month-on-month and the pack will continue using the same balance amount. We recommend that you continue with the Tata Sky monthly pack as it will best suit your viewing requirements along with no hassle of recharging again and again.

Looks like DTH guys are in no mood to further follow TRAI orders:Frustrati

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Originally Posted by DigitalOne (Post 4520629)

TRAI had announced major overhaul of DTH pricing which was supposed to go into effect on 29-Dec.

As the rules seem to be consumer-friendly (IMHO), and to the detriment of the cable/DTH operators profits, they have put cases in court, stalled and delayed the roll out. TRAI has now given time till Jan 31st to complete the rollout.

So now, after having painstakingly reconfigured my DTH subscriptions from Tata and Airtel, I'm left utterly confused. Who did this TRAI "overhaul" really benefit? Users are either having to pay same or more for retaining the channels they had access to before. DTH operators basically found loopholes and spent precious resources to utilize those loopholes.

Who the hell gained in the end? :Frustrati

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Originally Posted by rovingeye (Post 4537106)

I do watch Amazon Prime Video (currently enjoying LOST), have used Hotstar and Netflix in the past too. Do you know if they have good content for kids? My little one needs her Nobita and Mickey Mouse. Thing with DTH is that the screen time is somewhat limited and controllable. Whereas, on things like Amazon Prime, she will just sit there binge watch all episodes at one go.

There is Voot Kids app with Peppa pig, Motu patlu and others. Not sure about Nobita and Mickey mouse though :-)

Cross-posting from TataSky thread as this comment applies to all DTH providers.

Had to do the whole exercise because my long-term pack is still valid through March 2019.

The TRAI selector is very helpful. Chose an a la carte list of 60-odd channels we watch (mostly HD ones) with an indicated price of ~700 INR including fees. The optimized suggested bouquet combo got the price down to ~500 INR for 80-odd channels including all our choices except a few, that I added a la carte separately for ~50 INR. Total ~550 per month. Pretty neat considering TataSky charges ~4.5k INR for a 6-month subscription.

Best bit is TRAI site suggests broadcaster and bouquet name combinations so all ones needs to do on the TataSky site (which sucks to epic proportions) is check a few boxes and hit checkout.

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Originally Posted by pratyush6 (Post 4537216)

Just for fun, I tried this and my price came to Rs. 1154 for around 200 Channels. Wow! This is crazy.

PS : Does IPTV work in India? Might be a good thing to check it out.

Which IPTV ? I mean IPTV is basically using Internet to deliver TV streams. If you are trying to find a legal IPTV service in India, I am not even sure if any exists which doesn't need you to have legit DTH subscription first (like you can use Tata sky app to watch live tv only if you are a tata sky dth subscriber if I am not wrong).
I guess there is Yupp TV in India too but not sure of its pricing.

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Originally Posted by raksrules (Post 4537219)

Honestly, I am not sure of the legality. I do not use it, but most of my neighbours do; and I am amazed to see the quality and the bouquet. I was thinking of using it, only for cricket but that is taken care by Hotstar & Sony LIV subscriptions with a VPN :)
PS: IPTV Costs about 10 bucks a month (~550 INR) and it is not that difficult to set up.

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Originally Posted by fordday (Post 4537184)

From yesterday I have been trying to login to my d2h account to select the channels.
After filling in the OTP and captcha, it goes to a blank black page. This has been happening everytime even with different browsers.

The site is slow, but it worked. I submitted my selection on two different days. But finally, it just gives a confirmation that the input is taken and they will get back. Not sure what it means.

After waiting for more than 12 hours for a call from Tata Sky back office regarding cancelling my additional STB, I called up the call center at 10 pm last night.
They returned the call at 11.30 pm and the executive asked the reason for shutting the multi tv stb.
As I was put on hold, he cancelled the Multi TV connection.
This morning, first thing, I checked the second STB and it says that the account has been deactivated. Primary STB working well.

Only issue is that channels I did not choose via A-La-Carte are still showing up in my channel list.
Have to get that clarified soon.

We have a Hathway Digital Cable connection via STB and up until yesterday, we had the "Royal HD" pack that had pretty much most channels that we need including the Sports channels for Rs.550 per month.

Around 15 Jan, our cable operator asked us to submit the online request form for the channels we would like to subscribe to going forward. It was quite confusing because we aren't the type who watch just a single language/genre (though TV viewing is very minimal most days on a regular basis) :Frustrati
Going A-La-Carte for all channels we need was ending up at Rs.1200 a month, so had to do a lot of trial and error during the last weekend and finally figured out that most of our needs are met by:
1. SONY HAPPY INDIA PLATINUM HD 90 (all sports channels and other Sony HD entertainment channels, subscribing the pack is cheaper and more value than going A-La-Carte). Rs.90
2. Similar situation with Star for sports and entertainment, so went with STAR HINDI HD PREMIUM. Rs.120
3. About 10-15 other channels (regional, news, etc). ~Rs.100
4. Channel count ends up at 144 (HD channels count as 2 each), so Add NCF 130+20+20 = Rs.170
5. With GST, total is about Rs.610, it's still a myth that the new TRAI regulations will make it cheaper :Shockked:

Maybe it's time to cut the (Cable) cord and just use internet TV subscriptions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bejoy (Post 4537312)

The site is slow, but it worked. I submitted my selection on two different days. But finally, it just gives a confirmation that the input is taken and they will get back. Not sure what it means.

I too submitted my online request to Videocon D2H last night and got a confirmation of submission that said they will get back to me. Don't know what that means. Also noticed that there is no way to recheck or review your submission. Had to curtail a lot of channels & still ended up with Rs. 400/- ala-carte pack against my old 300 rupee pack with a lot less channels. Only good thing is that I could select some HD channels. One of my favorite channel, Travel XP seems no longer to be available on videocon.:Frustrati

So what this order from TRAI says that don't pay for additional channels that you don't watch and sure we can take then off your list. But now pay more for lesser number of channels that you actually watch. I think, I was better off with the previous option. Those extra channel were not exactly killing me. :D