KATHMANDU, April 9: The government has fixed the price that the television channel operators can charge from the customers.
The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology fixed the price by implementing the ‘À la carte’ price system.
À la carte’ stands for 'Pay Television' service and now Nepali consumers will be able to watch only their favorite channels by paying a fee.
Earlier, consumers could view all the television channels after paying for a lump sum package. The consumer did not have the right to choose the channel. Now, the government has made an arrangement where people can watch only the channel of their choice by paying a fee.
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Through the ministerial decision on March 29, the Ministry of Communications has determined the fees that the service providers who have permission to distribute television channel signals can charge from the consumers.
According to the ministry, now only Rs 250 including taxes can be charged for the minimum (basic package) fee. In this package, the broadcasting organization will have to show Nepali and foreign 'free to air' channels that can be watched for free. Such channels should include informational, news, educational, entertaining, sports and other content.
Similarly, now the channel operators will be allowed to charge the consumers separately or on a bouquet basis only for broadcasting the free channels. The government has fixed the maximum price of each bouquet channel at Rs 40 including tax. The government has banned taking more than Rs 40. Here, Bouquet channels can also be understood as channels that are provided by the same group in a bundle.
The ministry has made it compulsory for the channel operators to follow the decision, stating that consumers can decide whether to choose free television channels or not.
Similarly, it is arranged that local Nepali distributors should be selected to broadcast foreign free-to-air channels in Nepal with downlink permission. According to the ministry, the signal should be provided to all Nepali channel operators without discrimination by making an agreement with the said distributor.
“As an example, the fees raised from the bouquet of free-to-air television channels will be deducted from 13% VAT (Rs 1.30) from a fee of Rs 10. The remaining amount will be Rs 4.35 to the content provider and the remaining half Rs 4.35 to the channel operator,” states the notice issued by the ministry. “The TDS amount which will be 15 percent of Rs 4.35 received by the content provider, after deducting the TDS amount of Rs 0.6525, the remaining amount will be paid only Rs 3.6975 and only the equivalent foreign currency will be recommended.”
Meanwhile, the government has also banned the sale of internet and television channels in a single package (bundling). The ministry said that the maximum monthly payment of Rs 500 for television broadcasting and payment for internet services should not be more than the current combined fee.
The service providers have been informed to provide the service so that the fee of television service is shown separately with the internet service. Even doing this, it has been informed that it should not be more than the current fee.
The ministry has said that the channel operators have implemented a special cart price system to make the fees collected from the consumers transparent, systematic and scientific.
