MUMBAI: Cable TV operators have increased customer tariffs by five to 10 per cent, according to a report by the Press Trust of India (PTI) referring to the state of west Bengal.

Quoting various cable TV network owners in Kolkata, the report revealed that the price hike was enforced on the fraternity, courtesy the rise in content costs demanded by broadcasters in August. The PTI report further stated that the cable TV ecosystem was trying to find a balance between rising costs and not put the entire burden on the end customer at home. 

Meghbela Broadband co-founder Tapabrata Mukherjee was quoted as saying that his network has not yet raised customer prices as it has been absorbing costs for the past two months. 

“We can no longer sustain it,” he told  PTI. “On an average, we will raise tariffs by five to six per cent, though other broadcasters have hiked rates by more than 10 per cent, and in some cases, by as much as 20 per cent.”

India Cablenet Co director Suresh Sethia informed  PTI that SitiCable's minimal tariff hike is a strategy to compete with mobile users who prefer short-form content on platforms like YouTube and Facebook. The network has also launched Tubers TV, allowing users to submit short-form content up to eight minutes long, which has gained popularity.

"Our price hike ranges between 5-10 per cent across different packages," Sethia explained. “Overall, cable connections in Bengal have decreased to around 68 lakh from one crore four years ago.”

That’s a challenge, that pay TV distribution faces nationally.