Mumbai: The tussle between Star India and Airtel Digital TV has come to an amicable end as both the parties had managed to sort out their differences that was embroiling between them for the past couple of weeks.
The joint stamen from Airtel Digital TV and Star India stated “Airtel Digital subscribers will continue to get uninterrupted access to all of Star’s programmes including Vivo IPL, following an agreement reached between Star and Airtel.
“Both parties would like to assure their subscribers that the two companies are committed to bringing more and more high-quality content and experience to their consumers.” Added the joint statement.
The issue between Star India and Airtel Digital TV was simmering for the past one month and negotiations were on. However, both parties were blaming each other on social media.The issue gathered significance as they have locked horns just ahead of the Indian Premier League T20 series, which is scheduled to start from 7th April.
Earlier, Star India issued a disconnection notice to Bharti Telemedia for non-signing of the subscription agreement, non-payment of subscription fees and non-submission of subscribers’ reports. For the past few days, Airtel Digital TV customers have been seeing a notice on all Star channels that they might soon not be able to see the channnel, if the operator (Airtel) does not renew the contract.
Star India contended that Airtel is charging as much as Rs 1,000 for Star channels, which viewers can watch at Rs 200, if they switch to other providers such as Tata Sky, Sun Direct, Hathway, Den, GTPL and Fastway. Yes, Star India is providing the list.
On the other hand Airtel told to its customers, “Star network has increased tariff of its channels, which will result in higher pack prices for you. In order to protect your interests, Star network channels will be temporarily withdrawn from your packs with effect from 31st March 2018,”
It also stated that there is no truth in Star TV’s assertion that Airtel Digital TV is unilaterally increasing prices of Star TV channels across its packs. Instead, Star India is trying to recover the cost, and has set higher targets.
It may be noted that even Dish TV India Chairman and Managing Director Jawahar Goel also quoted, “Star has been asking for around 20-40 per cent increase in fees for its channels.”.
However, the whole issue took a turn with TDSAT asking both the parties to sit and discuss and sort out the issues amicably in the interest of the consumers. Subsequently, Star India and Airtel Digital TV was under pressure to find a solution as the crucial IPL tournament is nearing.
The high-level deliberations between the top executives of both the companies made them to agree at a moderate price revision for Star India package channels.
