A couple of months back, the Pakistan government had awarded Star TV a licence to sell and distribute its decoders, and its channels in that country. On 14 December, Star TV executives were left looking at the ceiling or their shoes as the government suspended that licence.

The reason: the management announced its eight channel bouquet will be sold at Rs 87 per subscriber. The government has objected to this saying Star TV has no right to to unilaterally fix subscriber tariffs on its own without consulting it as the licence conditions stipulate that tariff fixation should be decided appropriately.

Additionally, government officials point out that Star TV charges a much lower subscription fee from subscribers in India.