Industry & Economy
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Radio/TV
Playing out a farce?
Nithya Subramanian
NEW DELHI, June 20
WILL tomorrow's announcement of channel rates by some multi-system operators (MSOs) and cable operators turn out to be yet another farce? The divide in the broadcasting industry is only deepening with certain sections of the stakeholders - broadcasters and service providers not agreeing to them.
Pay broadcasters such as Star said that they have already announced a rate card and would stick by those rates. "We have already announced our a la carte rates and package rates and we stand by them. Let the cable operators decide what they want," said a Star official.
While the cable industry is planning to cap the monthly bill at around Rs 200 inclusive of the free-to-air tier, set-top box rental, the various taxes and pay channels, a complete package from Star India works out to Rs 50. "We will come out with rates for all the channels. If the broadcasters are not agreeable then their channels would not be available to the consumer," said cable industry sources. Also, it is unclear whether all the MSOs would be party to the new pricing structure.
Earlier in the week Star along with other broadcasters had presented a rate card according to which the wholesale price of all the pay channels (minus margins, basic FTA tier and STB rental) worked to about Rs 175.
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