Merger impact: JioStar breaks Rs 19 ceiling for two SD channels

New Delhi: The first impact of the merger between Reliance’s media businesses and Disney Star was felt on Saturday with the announcement of the revised MRPs of television channels.

In its latest Reference Interconnection Offer (RIO) uploaded on the JioStar website, the company has listed 134 channels along with their revised maximum retail price.

Out of 134 channels, JioStar owns 85 SD, 44 HD, and 5 FTA channels across genres.

For the first time, the broadcaster has broken the ceiling of Rs 19 for a couple of SD channels and priced them at Rs 25.

The SD version of Colors Kannada and Maa TV has been priced at Rs 25, thus making them available only on an a-la-cart basis.

According to the new tariff order in place, only those channels that have an MRP of Rs. 19/- or less will be permitted to be part of a bouquet.

In Kannada and Telugu markets, the bouquet pricing begins at Rs 70, without Colors Kannada and Maa TV, respectively.

“The price hike would largely be felt by a-la-carte customers across the country. But if you look at the Kannada and Telugu markets, every subscriber who wants either of Colors Kannada and Maa TV would be impacted,” said a distribution veteran. 

The broadcaster also sought an inflation-based hike in bouquet pricing of other languages, including Hindi.

Commenting on the price hike by JioStar, a broadcast veteran told BestMediaInfo.com that such a hike in MRP was expected given that not a single DPO can afford to lose a network of 134 channels.

“The overall price hike is exuberant, and the local cable operators are opposing it, fearing loss of subscribers. However, it will indeed give LCOs an excuse to charge more from existing subscribers,” the broadcast veteran added.

“No broadcaster or DPO adheres to the MRP regime in the true spirit, and the whole ecosystem is running on individual deals and agreements. The only impact of the MRP hike will be felt by a-la-carte subscribers,” the veteran said.

Star Utsav Movies, Colors Cineplex Bollywood, Colors Cineplex Superhits, News18 India, and Sports18 Khel are the five free-to-air channels.

A couple of days before, Sony Pictures Networks India and Zee Entertainment published their revised RIOs and none of their SD channels was priced above Rs 19.