Cable providers warn that NTO 2.0 will result in the loss of 1 million jobs

The Cable Operators United Front (COUF), located in Delhi, has requested the government to halt the implementation of the New Tariff Order (NTO) 2.0, which will have a negative impact on the cable TV industry, which employs millions of people in India.

The COUF claimed in a letter to Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur that the introduction of NTO 2.0 will result in the loss of one million jobs because the cable sector would become unviable as a result of broadcaster rate hikes.

According to the COUF, the rate increase will make TV subscriptions unsustainable for a wide segment of the population, resulting in a decrease in the overall pay-TV subscriber base. The cable TV business has lost up to 15-20 million customers, according to the report, and the higher price will exacerbate the problem. Cable TV has been losing subscribers to OTT services like DD Free Dish, according to the report.

In light of the publication of the Reference Interconnect Offer (RIO) by a few broadcasters, the cable operators' body has asked the minister to stop implementation of NTO 2.0 in its current form and relook into the provisions of the NTO 2.0 in relation to the practicality of implementing this framework.

It has also requested the government to impose a price ceiling on channel charges, claiming that the growth in the pricing of driver channels has rendered the regulation ineffective. "As a result, we respectfully request that your kind office take immediate steps to regulate OTT platforms, including price capping similar to cable TV and issuing instructions to broadcasters to stop providing pay channels to DD Free Dish and to maintain parity and level playing field by pricing channels at the same price for all platforms," the letter continued.