Broadcasters line up bouquets on offer as tariff order deadline nears

As the date for implementation of the tariff order issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) draws closer,

broadcasters have launched campaigns to educate consumers of the change in regime and the various bouquets on offer.

Under the Trai tariff order, all broadcasters have to declare the maximum retail price for their channels, and all channels have to be made available on an a-la-carte basis.

Viacom18, has based its campaign around the ‘lucrative pricing’ for its basic Hindi channel pack. The network has introduced the Hindi value pack at Rs 25 a month, and used the value proposition of the pack as its marketing peg.

Viacom18 and TV18 have launched a multi-media marketing campaign, titled ‘Ek Me Hai More Yahaan’, that advocates the comprehensive value for money that the ‘COLORS wala pack’ provides to viewers. The campaign highlights the concerns of TV viewers over the rising cost of entertainment and packages top channels across genres are offering so that the entire entertainment and news needs of a family are taken care of.

Sudhanshu Vats, group CEO and managing director, Viacom18 says, “While deciding the communications strategy, we felt that the most compelling argument in favour of bouquet offerings is that you get the most popular channels from the network at less than Rs 1 a day. We have also put the po­pular consumer facing brand at the forefront of the communication rather than the corporate brand in order to reach out to consumers more effectively.”

He adds that while the marketing costs for the quarter will rise on account of the campaigns, broadcasters are looking at the exercise as a long-term gain.

Star India, on the other hand, has used the pull of known faces and celebrities to extol the value of its bouquets. Star India released a national campaign across eight languages based on the thought #SachMein that brings alive the value offered by the Star Value PACK. The campaign, created in-house at Star India, uses the approach of ‘reverse bargaining’ for communication. The Hindi commercial features superstar Aamir Khan, who plays a customer known to drive a hard bargain, and is convinced of the value offered by the pack by the end of the ad.

The same creativity has been executed across markets with a local flavour featuring local stars like Mohanlal for the Malayalam campaign, Kamal Hassan for Tamil, Nagarjuna for Telugu, Darshan for Kannada, Dev for Bengali and Swapnil Joshi for Marathi.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises (Zee), on the other hand, has chosen to use a more topical analogy for its campaign. Prathyusha Agarwal, chief marketing officer, Zee, explains, “To simplify the complex structural change coming their way, we have chosen the topical analogy of elections through “Channels Ka Chunaav 2019” — a multimedia multi-stakeholder communication initiative — urging viewers to fulfill demands of all family members through Family Ki Suno, Zee Ko Chuno!”

“There are three crucial aspects to educating all stakeholders about this change. It starts with bringing about awareness of the uniform pricing regime and the paradigm shift it brings, then educating consumers about specific packs and offerings and lastly, facilitating behaviour change at the last mile,” she adds. 

Zee is also undertaking familiarisation workshops with service providers — multi system operators and local cable operators — in an effort to facilitate behaviour change at the last mile.

Sony Pictures Network India (SPN), has opted for a phased approach towards the consumer. It is using the high impact properties in its portfolio to communicate with the viewers about the impending change in tariff structure. For example, it is using the ongoing India tour of Australia, which airs on the network’s sports bouquet, informing viewers that they can now opt for only the channels they want.

Rajesh Kaul, chief revenue officer, distribution and head, sports, explains, “Sony Pictures Networks India has worked on a comprehensive consumer education campaign, which we will roll out in phases since we do not want to overwhelm the consumer at one-go. One of the primary influencers in this campaign will be Amitabh Bachchan.”

There is a protest planned at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.

Trai ensures no disruption 
 

On Wednesday, Trai issued a circular saying it was preparing a detailed migration plan for all its existing subscribers. “The plan will provide ample opportunity to each and every subscriber for making an informed choice. This will also enable service providers to carry out various activities as stipulated in the new regulatory framework in a time-bound manner,” the circular said. Some markets may see a blackout from 7 pm to 10 pm on Thursday, to protest against implementation of the order.

BS Reporter