Star Sports fumes as Hathway remove channels from its packages

The star broadcaster accuses the MSO of violating TRAI regulations by not informing customers in advance before offering its channels on a la carte basis

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | April 11, 2014

A full blown war of words has broken out between Star Sports and Raheja group-owned multi-system operator Hathway after the latter removed signals of channels of the global sports broadcaster from its packages and offering it for the more expensive pick and choose option.

While Star Sports accused the MSO of violating TRAI regulations by not informing customers in advance before offering its channels on a-la-carte basis, Hathway hit back by saying it has followed all the rules and regulations of the regulator.

The sports broadcaster has carried out advertisements on TV, print and outdoor hoardings asking Hathway customers to switch on DTH if they were unable to watch its sports channels. The campaign hit a peak during the just concluded T20 World Cup.

"We are of the opinion that they have violated the quality of service regulation framed by TRAI. Especially for Delhi and Mumbai, Hathway failed to inform consumers about change in composition of packs, when they were bound to inform consumer through running of scrolls on its screen and publish a prior notice in leading newspapers," a Star Sports spokesperson said.

Even for subscribers who had paid subscription fee in advance for six month to a year, they went ahead and changed the composition of the package, the spokesperson added.

Denying the allegation, Hathway Managing Director and CEO Jagdish Kumar G Pillai told PTI: "We have followed all rules and regulations of TRAI. We have removed Star Sports from our existing packages and giving options to consumers to choose a channel or a package."

Stating that “the essence of disitisation is about giving consumers numerous options”, he said: "We are confident that sports fans will pay a reasonable amount to view their favourite games."

The dispute started after Hathway, a leading MSO with over 11 million subscription base in 140 cities, removed Star Sports bouquet of four channels from its regular package and asked its viewers to pay a-la-carte to subscribe.

When asked why Star Sports channels were put on a la carte basis, Pillai said: "We have been paying them on a fixed pay basis, which worked out to be a very unreasonable amount on a 'per subscriber' basis."

However, the Star Sports spokesperson said: "We were in the midst of negotiations and wanted to understand Hathway's future plans but they unilaterally went ahead and changed the composition of packs."

Star Sports and Hathway had entered into a fixed fee deal to add the broadcaster's channels in a package without any linkage to the subscription base.

According to Star, the parties had signed two separate agreements. While the first contract which expired on October 31, 2013 catered to Delhi and Mumbai markets, the second contract that expired in March 31, 2014 was for the places where digital addressable system (DAS) was notified by the government in phase II of digitalisation and Kolkata region.

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