TRAI's Channel Selector to help you calculate your cable bill after Jan 31
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has launched a new web application to help cable and DTH operatrs calculate their bill after the implementations of new regulations from January 31.
As per the new rules, the users are required to individually select and subscribe to channels they watch, instead of paying for an array of channel they do not watch as part of the bouquet offers by service providers. The deadline for subscription is January 31, if any user fails to subscribe channels or bouqets offered by the media groups then they may have to face a blank screen.
To help ease the process, TRAI has decided to introduce a new application which will help the subscribers in making their channel selection. The subscribers will be able to use this tool to calculate their monthly rental which they will be required to pay after transitioning to the new regime.
The new Channel Selector Application helps the users in calculating the MRP of their channel package. As the users go on with adding channels on the application, the app will update the total pricing which will be payable by the subscriber. The channel selection process will be much similar to adding products to your shopping cart where users will be able to see their entire selection after they are done choosing channels from the list. The application will also optimise your bill by checking if there are bouquets on offer which will reduce your total monthly bill without reducing the channels you have selected. The application will also allow the users to download or print their channel selections easily.
The authority has set the Network Capacity Fee (NCF) at Rs 130 per month under which the subscribers will be entitled to 100 SD free to air (FTA) channels. Among the free channels, 30 channels are fixed like Doordarshan and 70 channels can be selected by the user from total 534 FTA channels.
For example, if you watch 50 channels regularly - at least a few of those like India TV would be Free-To-Air and can be selected among the 70 free channels. The remaining, pay channels, let's say 10, could cost you anywhere between 0.50 paise to Rs 19. Rs 20 is the maximum cap of the channel pricing set by TRAI.
So, for example, if 10 paid channel selected by you cost an average Rs 5, you will pay Rs 180 (RS 130 fixed + 50 for pay channels). You can add or remove channels as per requirements later. Under new rules, users can choose to suspend their subscription for set period of time as well.
How to use TRAI Channel Selector APP to calculate your cable bill
When you open the TRAI channel selector app, you will be prompted to enter necessary information like your name, languages, state, interested-genre and more after which you will be able to proceed with the channel selection process. It is noteworthy that with the use of this application subscribers will be able to ensure that they are paying the right amount and the most optimised price for the subscribed channels. They can also estimate how much they will need to shell out per month for their choice of channels and plan their subscription likewise.
TRAI's Channel Selector App
