Zee Entertainment announced Sunday the rates of its TV channels to conform to regulator TRAI’s tariff regime (NTO 2.0), but has priced some driver channels like Zee TV and Zee Bangla (both SD and HD versions) over the mandated cap of Rs. 12 to take them out of the over 20 bouquets it has formulated.

The new rates will be effective from December 1, 2021.

The SD TV channels that Zee has priced over the price cap includes Zee TV at Rs. 22 per subscriber per month, Zee Marathi (Rs. 25/sub/month), Zee Kannada (Rs. 22/sub/month) and Zee Bangla@Rs. 25/sub/month.

In the HD pack, Zee TV HD is available @Rs. 22/sub/month with other channels in this category priced over the cap (pricing over the cap of Rs. 12 makes a channel ineligible to be included in a bouquet) include Zee Marathi HD at the same price as the SD rate, Zee Bangla HD (Rs. 25/sub/month), Zee Tamil HD (Rs. 22/sub/month), Zee Telegu (Rs. 22/sub/month), Zee Cinemalu HD @ Rs. 16 and Zee Kannada at Rs. 25.

In a statement yesterday, Zee Entertainment said it released the new a-la-carte TV channel and bouquet pricing in line with the Bombay High Court order dated June 30, 2021 relating to New Tariff Order (NTO 2.0)

However, it added, “The said pricing is being released without prejudice to ZEEL’s rights and contentions under all petitions pending adjudication before the Hon’ble Supreme Court w.r.t. New Tariff Order (NTO) 2.0.”

With a pan India network encompassing a weekly reach of 606 million viewers, Zee claimed one of the highest viewership bases across Hindi and regional language markets, including Marathi, Bangla, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Bhojpuri, Odia, Punjabi and English in the GEC, movies, news, music, lifestyle and HD genres.

Speaking about the new channel pricing, Rahul Johri, President, Business, South Asia, Zee Entertainment, said, “ZEEL’s unparalleled success is an outcome of its strong bond with viewers spread across India and the deep relationship it has built with the entire stakeholder community. These extraordinary partnerships have led to our leadership across multiple markets for nearly three decades.

“We will continue to create value for the entire ecosystem by presenting the most entertaining and highest quality content, enriching national and regional channels and through innovative solutions for revenue monetization. We are confident that post implementation of NTO 2.0, ZEE channels will continue their growth momentum across markets and create higher value for the company.”

Commenting on the announcement, Atul Das, Chief Revenue Officer, Affiliate Sales, said, “At ZEEL, we are committed to providing the best entertainment to our consumers. The new pricing regime in 2019 brought in a major shift in the way television was consumed in India.

“On one hand, it brought in transparency about (the) MRP of channels, while on the other hand it offered freedom to consumers to select channels they wish to watch. With NTO 2.0, consumers will get even more flexibility in selection of channels. We will continue to provide multiple bouquets to consumers across the country at different price points. Premium English channels like Zee Café and &flix will continue to be available in a separate bouquet. Each bouquet constitutes a mix of channels, including GEC, movies, news, music and lifestyle genres. We look forward to working with our Distribution Platform Operators (DPO) partners for a smooth transition.”

ZEEL has created 26 bouquets that include Zee Family Pack Hindi SD (Rs 27), Zee Prime Pack English SD (Rs 15), Zee Prime Pack Odia SD (Rs 3), Zee Prime Pack Marathi SD (Rs 6), Zee Family Pack Marathi SD (Rs 30), Zee Prime Pack Bangla SD (Rs 4), Zee Family Pack Bangla SD (Rs 27), Zee Prime Pack Tamil SD (Rs 12), Zee Family Pack Tamil SD (Rs 24), Zee Prime Pack Telugu SD (Rs 5), Zee Family Pack Telugu SD (Rs 17), Zee Prime Pack Kannada SD (Rs 5), Zee Family Pack Kannada SD (Rs 17), Zee Prime Pack Malayalam SD (Rs 6), Zee Family Pack Malayalam SD (Rs 18), and Zee Family Pack Hindi SD (Rs 48). Zee Prime Pack English HD (Rs 25), Zee Family Pack Bangla HD (Rs 48), Zee Prime Pack Marathi HD (Rs 12), Zee Family Pack Marathi HD (Rs 52), Zee Prime Pack Tamil HD (Rs 12), Zee Family Pack Tamil HD (Rs 35), Zee Prime Pack Kannada HD (Rs 12), Zee Family Pack Kannada HD (35), Zee Prime Pack Malayalam HD (Rs 12), and Zee Family Pack Malayalam HD (Rs 35).