(20 January 2009 11:00 pm)

MUMBAI: DTH operators feel that the six-month lock-in for the channels that they are offering to a subscriber in a package is too long.

Bharti Telemedia, which operates Airtel Digital TV, said that DTH is an extremely competitive industry with the presence of seven operators and it should be guided through self regulation. Market forces should be allowed to develop strategies in the best interest of the consumer as well as the industry.

Dish TV, Big TV and Bharti Telemedia were offering their comments to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on the consultation paper the sector regulator wants to come up with on 'Quality of Service' (QoS) issues for direct-to-home services.

Essel Group’s Dish TV, which has the largest subscriber base, wants "better flexibility" while stating that "channels of a subscriber shall not be changed for such period for which the subscriber has subscribed for the DTH services."

Reliance’s Big TV said that a rigid regulation on dropping of channels will "neither be in the interest of consumer nor in the interest of the DTH operator." There is, thus, a need to have a flexible approach in this regard. A broadcaster can withdraw its channel by giving a six-week notice, which is a reasonable period for dropping a channel.

Bharti said whether the situation warrants reduction of charges consequent to drop in channel may be left to the concerned service provider, who would alone be privy to the actual charges of the package and rate payable to the broadcaster for the relevant channel.

Dish TV also agreed that there should not be any reduction / refund of the subscription fee to the customer more so because more often than not, the removal of channel takes place "because of the circumstances beyond the control of DTH operator and the reasons of such removal mostly pertains to the broadcaster."

Big TV said an alternative channel of similar ratings could be provided to the subscriber. If not, then a rebate on pro-rata basis can be calculated for the remaining period of the subscription, for which the payment has already been made.

The DTH operators also provided their views on visiting charges for “no signal” complaint by the subscribers, offering of annual maintenance contracts (AMCs) to the subscribers and availability of toll-free numbers for recharge calls for prepaid accounts.

The views to Trai's queries stretched to QoS issues like request for suspension of service for full calendar months and tariff plan or subscription package changes requested by the DTH subscriber from immediate effect or from the start of next billing cycle.