SARFT, NDRC Announce Cable DTV Pricing Rules
DVBCN, 9/01/09
China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) have released a notice to local authorities mandating tighter regulation of cable television fees.
The notice requires local administrative departments to eliminate unreasonable charges related to subscribers' application to open, relocate, suspend, reactivate, or transfer their accounts. In addition, the notice mandates that cable subscribers whose accounts are converted from analogue to digital may not be charged for their new set-top box and accompanying conditional access card, while cable operators may charge for damaged or lost CA cards according to prices determined by provincial-level authorities. Basic cable service fees will be regulated by government authorities, while cable operators will retain autonomy to set fees for value-added services and premium programming. Moreover, existing fee schedules for basic cable service may not be raised.
According to the notice, cable subscribers in regions undergoing DTV conversion who are temporarily unwilling to switch to DTV are to be offered the option to keep at least 6 analog channels including major central, provincial and local-level stations for free during the transition period.
Keywords: analog conversion pricing regulation television DTV SARFT conditional access NDRC premium programming set-top box cable TV DTV VAS
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