Major DTH operators namely Tata Sky, Airtel Digital TV and D2h have announced multiple connection plans under the new TRAI tariff regime, Ultra News has reported.
Under these plans, subscribers would be able to avail discounts if they purchase more than one DTH connections for their homes, to operate on multiple television sets.
These new plans are a result of a TRAI clarification that the DTH operators can provide discounts on ‘network charges’ for customers buying more than one connection.
As clarified by TRAI, it has merely capped the network charges to Rs 130 per month and does not prohibit the operators from offering discounts. Such discounts though won’t be possible for content charges.
Tata Sky earlier used to charge a flat rate of Rs 250 on the second connection under which the subscriber would get all the paid channels active on his/her first connection without any extra charge.
But such an offer is not possible under the new regime as the DTH operators would have to pay the channel owners every time a customer activates paid channels.
Under the new regime, D2h customers would have to pay a network charge of Rs 59 on the second connection. Airtel Digital TV though is announcing a discount of Rs 59 on multiple connections. For example for every second, third connection and so forth, customers would get a discount of Rs 59.
Tata Sky though would offer discounts based on total paid channel costs and no flat reduction. It reportedly means that Tata Sky would offer customers a fixed content charge on secondary connections.