Though the TRAI's pricing regulation overhaul earlier this year was aimed at rationalizing DTH bills of consumers, much has not been done in this regard. In fact, consumers complaint of an increase in the cost of TV watching, so, here we suggest some good enough measures that will help you bring down your DTH bill.

First we'll know the change the policy brought about

In the TRAI's recommendation, each of the channels has to be assigned as either a FTA or should have a maximum rental or retain price across all of the platforms.

You have to shell out a network capacity of Rs. 130 plus taxes for the first 100 channels on a monthly basis. So, this is the minimum amount you now have to pay to view DTH.
Further over and above these first 100 channels, for every 25 channels that you add to your subscription list, you pay Rs. 20 more.

Bouquet is provided by DTH providers and broadcasters alike and the cap of channel pricing is Rs. 19 at max.

HD channels cost you still higher.

What DTH subscribers are confronting in terms of price and the number of channels?

It is to be noted that the prices have gone down only for subscribers with one TV set and who still have foregone on the channels that were available before the TRAI ruling. But for most others, the rates have gone up substantially i.e. who have more than one TV set connection or prefer watching different content.

To reduce your monthly bill on DTH: Here's what you should be doing

Well, the policy initiative was not to increase the cost burden on consumers and to bring down their effective bills by 10-15%, subscribers as an informed lot, need to opt for only those channels, which they view. And in a case, when you wish to view a certain channel on some special occasion as say a sports channel when your favourite sports match is being aired, you can subscribe to it during that period and remove the subscription, once your match is finally over. This way you are charged for that channel only for the number of days you have opted for it.

Also, in a case when there are more than one set top connections, you can go in for different channels across systems as it can be a cost-effective choice. Also, if you are an OTT platform user such as Hotstar, Amazon prime, Netflix, you definitely need to cut down on your DTH bill through a vigilant and wise cost-comparison exercise.

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