NEW DELHI / MUMBAI: Hook on early and get to see your favourite pay channels at an attractive "invitation price". That is the proposition that the pay broadcasters will be giving to consumers to buy set tops and take their channels.

At a meeting of the Indian Broadcast Foundation (IBF) that has just concluded, pay broadcasters had struck a common plan to work with the MSOs to offer their channels at an invitation price that would be valid for a period agreeable to the government.

The feedback from the meeting is that the broadcasters would like to offer this "early bird" scheme for a period of three months. The catch of course is that a recent government notification stipulates that pay channels cannot increase prices within six months of announcing channel rates in a post-CAS regime.

If the government does not agree to a modification of the terms of the notification so as to allow broadcasters to offer early bird schemes applicable for three months, then it is expected that the packages will be valid for six months.

While broadcasters would not offer any clues as to what would be the discounting on offer for those who buy into these schemes, speculation is that it will be in the region of 30 to 40 per cent.