Several smaller broadcasters, including the Times Group, Discovery Communications, Disney, Turner International and Raj TV have announced channel packs and prices under the new TRAI tariff scheme applicable from December 29.
Unlike the bigger names like Star, Sony and Zee, the smaller companies have announced lower prices — both for individual channels as well as for their packs or bouquets.
While bigger firms like Zee, Star and Sony have priced most of their bouquets in the range of Rs 40-120, the smaller broadcasters have priced it in the range of Rs 4 to Rs 32.
DISCOVERY PACKS
Of the five, the most cost-effective channels and packs have been announced by Discovery Communications.
The company offers several packs, and the most expensive channel package from Discovery is priced at Rs 10. The pack includes all eight channels of the group, including one sports channel and one children’s channel.
The 10-rupee pack also comes with four HD channels — Discovery HD World, Animal Planet HD World, TLC HD World and Jeet HD — in addition to Discovery Science and Discovery Turbo.
For non-HD subscribers, the same pack is available at Rs 8 per month. It also offers a kids + HD infotainment pack at Rs 8.
TIMES GROUP
Times Group, also known as Bennett Coleman and Company Ltd, also announced its packs, though the HD variants of the company’s packs are on the expensive side.
The company has eight channels in all, including four movie channels, three news channels and a Bollywood channel.
Out of these, five channels — including the four movie channels — Movies Now, Romedy Now, MNX and MN+ — are offered in HD, along with Times Now, the group’s English news channel, which is also offered in HD.
The company’s packs are relatively straightforward: It charges Rs 32.20 per month for its bouquet of five HD channels, and Rs 16.58 per month for its seven SD channels.
Customers who want to watch both the HD and the SD channels would be better off subscribing to Times Group’s HD pack and adding its news channels one by one.
TURNER
Another broadcaster, familiar to the English-speaking audiences in India, is Turner, the owner of brands such as HBO, CNN and Cartoon Network.
The company’s HD pricing is interesting. If you buy only HBO HD, you have to pay Rs 15 per month. But if you buy both HBO HD and Cartoon Network HD, you have to pay only Rs 12.50 per month.
You can also buy all its five non-HD channels for Rs 10 per month too.
DISNEY
Another broadcaster that has come out with its channel pack and pricing is Disney, the kids-focused broadcaster.
The company too has a curious pricing structure for its two HD channels — UTV HD and Disney International HD.
If you buy only Disney International HD, you have to pay Rs 12 per month. But if you buy both Disney International HD as well as UTV HD, you can get the two for a combined pack price of Rs 10 only.
Similarly, if you buy the company’s four kids channels — Disney Junior, Hungama, Marvel HQ and Disney Channel — it will cost you Rs 12 per month.
But if you add the company’s non-kids channels — UTV Movies, UTV Bindass and UTV Action — you can get the whole seven-channel pack for just Rs 10 per month.
RAJ TV
Raj TV, a South India-based broadcaster, also announced its channel packs.
The company, which offers most of its channels free of cost, also operates six pay channels, four of which are in Tamil and two of which are in Kannada.
The pack of four Tamil channels are priced at Rs 4.89 per month, while the mega pack comprising all six channels will cost you Rs 5.53 per month.
You can see the full list of pay channels from these five broadcasters and their primary packs and bouquets in the chart below.
