DTH to cost more by 15%
Come December, come the increase in the cost for Direct-To-Home facility. The DTH operators ascribe this hike to the increase in the price of imported set-top-boxes. The monthly subscriber tariff is somewhere between Rs2600 – Rs 5600 which includes cost of the set-top box, monthly content cost, and advertising campaigns. The talk about this price hike is already on the air with major DTH operators like Dish TV and Tata sky. They have resorted to this extent as a result of increased taxations and the minimum increase may be about 12.12.5%. However, quite contradictorily, BIG TV has not chalked out any plans to levy burden on the customers; the company likes to wait and watch the situation before making any firm decision.
The price rise is also due to the competitive strategies by new entrants to the field who have offered low tariff for the monthly rate. The DTH companies are spending Rs1568-Rs2450 per STB and at the higher end, MPEG4 STB (higher compression technology) are costing them Rs2500- Rs3038. Under these conditions, the pioneers are not able to cope the price war with the latest entries like BIG TV and Bharti Airtel. The observers in this filed are quite amused that the price rise coincides with the introduction of High Definition(HD) services in India. Initially, the DTH operators had planned to purchase this HD at the hi-end MPEG4 enabled STBs. But, after reviewing the current situation the DTH operators have withdrawn the proposal.
Tata Sky, on the otherhand, has already introduced the scheme of Personal Video Recorded service by charging some high premium for the service. Whereas Dish TV planned to launch the sale of HD by this December and BIG TV is to launch this HD services and is evaluating two variants of this HD. Since an amicable situation comes, the viewers will be brisk watching the price-rise game with sad outlook.