MUMBAI: “Liar.” That’s what DTH platform Airtel Digital TV has called India’s leading TV network Star India. In a statement put out earlier yesterday, Airtel said that it was shocked by the “malicious, misleading, defamatory campaign based on blatant lies being run by Star India. There is no truth whatsoever in Star TV’s assertion that Airtel Digital TV is unilaterally increasing prices of Star TV’s channels across its packs.”
Airtel has further clarified that it is Star TV, which is asking for an unreasonable hike in rates and passing on such a steep hike in charges to customers in the form of higher pack rates is not an option for the DTH company. “Since Star TV has taken such an unreasonable stand, Airtel has been forced to take Star channels on a reference interconnect order (RIO) basis at a high cost.”
The operator has added that all key Star standard definition channels will continue to be available to existing customers as part of their existing packs with no increase in price. The DTH platform has further said it will continue to provide Star Sports 1 and Star Sports 1 Hindi to all eligible customers. Finally, it has stated that all popular Star high definition channels (HD) will be available as part of select packs with other Star HD channels being offered on an a la carte basis at the price charged by the broadcaster.
The two have been sparring over content pricing that Star India has been asking from Airtel. Last week, Star India ran a campaign exhorting Airtel Digital’s subscribers to switch to other platforms following which the latter posted its riposte.
It’s quite likely we have not seen the last of this fracas. Keep reading indiantelevision.com
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