People’s increasing dependence on the Internet in today’s world is a truth universally acknowledged. For our young population, especially those born after the 2000s were born into a smaller world by virtue of the Internet vast expanses. With the advent of the Internet, the world has had a taste of newer on-demand entertainment, quite unlike the issues that accompanied entertainment on television.
A recent change in the guidelines by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has brought in newer prices for channels as well as newer network capacity fees, which heralds an increase in monthly bills for subscribers. The rise in prices will be a significant impact on DTH and cable operators, given the tough competition that they already face from a burgeoning amount of digital content freely available online to people on their phones, laptops or tablets. The move by the TRAI can impact people’s inclination towards the familiar “telly”. There is an ever-increasing competition from digital content providers in the form of Netflix and Amazon, which host not just films, but serial shows as well, providing a substitute to the daily soaps which are so ubiquitous a character in most Indian middle-class homes every evening.
Unlike the TV, which follows a fixed schedule with sometimes there being no repeat shows, digital content providers provide a choice to view the same content multiple times, giving the viewer a sense of power. Furthermore, the idea that such platforms can allow rewinding and skipping of snippets through the content, a feature unavailable on television is further customer-empowering and user-friendly. Since television is also considered to be a more public affair, televised content is usually devoid of sexually explicit content, violence or profanity, something which causes a less realistic picture to be portrayed to viewers. As such, online entertainment platforms are far more favored because of a more personalized viewer experience as well as greater privacy, something which young adults would choose to prioritize over family friendly content which may seem bland to their eyes.
With this recent development, it is an undeniable fact that people will gravitate towards online platforms more than ever, the prices of which are almost comparable to DTH or cable TV subscriptions, if not free (like YouTube, Dailymotion or Vimeo). Furthermore, the compatibility of these platforms over multiple devices which only require a password makes it convenient for use regardless if one is traveling or at home. It is no surprise that the world will continue to step towards content synced to the Internet, price hike or not.