Government’s plan to implement A’ La Carte system reaches final stage

KATHMANDU: The government’s plan to implement A’ La Carte system in the distribution of TV channels has reached the final stage.

The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has already prepared a proposal on the issue and will be endorsed by a ministerial level meeting in a few days, a source said.

The A’ La Carte system is being implemented in order to facilitate the television viewers and to limit the arbitrariness of the internet service providers.

After the implementation of the A’ La Carte system, people can pay cable TV bills based on the number of channels they watch.

Arrangements are being made in such a way that people can purchase only the channels of their choice and pay the limited bills.

According to the proposal prepared recently, people have to pay minimum Rs 250 and maximum up to Rs 500 to the purchase of TV channels, the Ministry said.

In the draft proposal, there is a clear provision that Internet services provided under the Telecommunications Act and broadcasting services provided under the National Broadcasting Act cannot be bundled.

Preparations are also being made to stop the internet service providers from selling the services by bundling together.

Nepali signal distributors have been distributing the domestic television channels and various foreign television channels to consumers through DTH, Cable, IPTV, MMDS and DTTV among various distributing systems in Nepal.

Accordingly, people have to pay a monthly fee to the Nepali signal distributor.

Currently, DTH, Cable, ISO, IPTV, MMDS and DTTV among others are distributing signals through digital television transmission systems in Nepal.

What is A’ La Carte?

A’ La Carte’ means ‘According to the Card’. This is a French word and is being used worldwide. Earlier, A’ La Carte was used in ordering individual dishes from a menu in a restaurant.

In the context of a digital television distributing system, A’ La Carte means people can watch television programmes and channels of their choice from the place they want, from the provided television lists and packages.