Channels Of Indian Television Network Colors, Star, Zee, And Sony Are Off In Nepal Indian television channels have stopped broadcasting in Nepal. Indian television networks have stopped broadcasting their channels since Thursday, saying that the government has not given foreign exchange recommendations for nearly two years.
According to the spokesperson of the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Gajendra Kumar Thakur, the broadcast of channels under India’s Colors, Star, Zee, and Sony networks has been stopped. “Since 15 Chait 2079, their foreign currency has not been recommended,” he said in a conversation with Tekpana. “They are trying to undermine the government by stopping the broadcasting of the channel. There is no problem in giving foreign exchange recommendations according to the law.
Also, since the beginning, Indian television channels have been reluctant to follow the Alakarta system. They are against such a system, saying that it is not valid to set the price of each channel separately.
After the implementation of this system on 1 July 2080, the broadcasting of such channels was stopped. But after the government did not get any sign of backing down, the Indian channels were ready to go for the a la carte price system. Thakur said that an agreement has been reached between the government and Indian television networks for this. Accordingly, they also submitted the Buke (charge statement of the channels) to the Information and Broadcasting Department.
By implementing the Alakarta system where the customer can select the channel and pay only the fixed fee, the television fee becomes cheaper for the customer. But spokesperson Thakur admits that the government does not have the technology to monitor whether the ala carte price system is implemented or not.
“Purchasing such technology is going to be very expensive,” he further said. “Instead, we have asked the operators and cable providers to provide the details of how many customers have paid under the Alacarta price system. But they are hesitating to explain that there is no such report.”
What is the Alacarta fee system?
Alacarta fee system is a system where the consumer pays the fee only for the television channels he wants to watch. Let’s say you want to watch five channels, then you only pay for that number of channels. But the claim of Indian television networks is that customers have to pay for all the channels they provide, whether they watch them or not. It is like a buffet system of food, where 40/50 dishes of food are placed, and you have to pay for everything no matter what you eat.
Because this system is not implemented, the customer has to pay the fee even for the packages that he does not watch and the unnecessary channels. This system is in use in most countries of the world, including neighboring countries.
After the implementation of the Nepal government’s decision, television viewers will have to pay 250 rupees per month for the basic package and a maximum of 500 rupees per month, including paid channels. Apart from this, it has also been arranged that the service provider cannot increase the fee by adding to the total fee currently charged by internet and television channels.
According to this new system, the Ministry of Communication will decide the price per channel and package that can be collected from consumers. It is believed that the fee system will be transparent in this new system and will benefit consumers and service providers.
