JioStar tightens LCN rules as incentive payouts hinge on EPG discipline

New Delhi: JioStar’s new reference interconnect offer (RIO) keeps the incentive cap unchanged at up to 15 per cent, but it makes one point clear for distribution platform operators (DPOs). Incentives are also about where JioStar’s channels sit on the electronic programme guide (EPG).

In the 2026 incentive scheme, a DPO’s eligibility is linked to timely submission of qualifying reports and compliance with LCN rank requirements for subscribed a-la-carte channels.

The payout, in effect, becomes conditional on the platform maintaining channel placement.

In the previous RIO, the non-deterioration requirement was pegged to the LCN rank maintained in the last week of December 2024, and it applied across the DPO’s head-ends.

In the 2026 RIO, the baseline shifts to the last week of January 2026, and the clause expands to cover all head-ends and the market of the DPO. This can widen the compliance footprint beyond a single head-end view.

The company also said it will communicate the baseline LCN number and baseline LCN rank to the DPO based on ground observations.

While the broadcaster relied more on the rank “maintained by the DPO” last year, it is positioning the baseline as something it will validate and convey this year.

If the baseline is broadcaster-communicated and based on observation, the broadcaster has a clearer reference point to contest later movement.

Compliance test

A cursory look at the new RIO indicates a specific condition for head-ends where channels were not subscribed to earlier.

If a DPO had not subscribed to some channels listed in the relevant table before January 2026 at one or more head-ends, the DPO is required to meet the LCN rank requirement for those channels at those head-ends once the agreement is executed.

In 2025, the RIO linked the “one-time all channel line-up” submission to cases where a DPO had not availed certain listed channels prior to December 2024 at one or more head-ends.

In 2026, the one-time “all channel line-up” format is still present, but it is tied more narrowly to a specific category of DPOs, those that had not availed any JioStar channels prior to executing the SLA.

The framing of these conditions suggests tightening and loosening at the same time.

JioStar has widened the LCN condition to “market” and moved to a broadcaster-communicated baseline, but it has reduced the one-time line-up burden for platforms that are not new to the network.

LCN placement affects discoverability, sampling, ratings potential and, eventually, advertising outcomes. DPOs also have their own compulsions, including accommodating local channels, operator promos and periodic EPG clean-ups.

When LCN ranks become a formal condition for incentive eligibility, routine EPG changes can become a commercial decision. A platform that reshuffles its guide may have to check whether it has inadvertently triggered a “deterioration” dispute.

However, enforcement may be tricky, depending on how ground observations are recorded and how disagreements are resolved when operational constraints collide with placement expectations.