35 Channels go off air in 12 cities over carriage fee dispute

Large cable operators Hathway and Gujarat Telelink have stopped airing a bouquet of channels,which include Colors and MTV, in 10-12 cities across Gujarat, Maharasthra, Rajasthan, Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, affecting nearly 75 lakh TV viewers.

The 35 channels are owned by IndiaCast, a global distribution company for Viacom18, which is not willing to pay a higher share of carriage fee to the multi-system operators. Not willing to yield either, the cable operators have stopped airing the channels fromApril 1.Hathway,whichboasts of a 15-lakh subscriber base, has also stopped telecasting Comedy Central, Sonic and History in Mumbai.

While all three parties confirmed that it is an issue of carriage fee, no one is willing to bend first.The carriage fee,which channel owners pay to cable operators to be on their networks, are negotiated between the aggregator and broadcaster, and can range between 2% and 10% of the broadcasters' cost. It is a major source of revenue for the MSOs.

Anuj Gandhi, CEO, Indiacast, said, "All we are asking for is our fair share and a report of the number of subscribers. We have written to Trai, which has written to Gujarat Tele link to heed to our letter.”

Sumit Bose, president of Gujarat Telelink, which claims to have 80% of the Gujarat market, said that the company's contract with IndiaCast ended on March 31 and it had written to India Cast in December 2012 for re-negotiations, but it did not receive a reply till March. He said Gujarat Telelink is aware of the regulations and is well within its rights to switch off the channels after March. "We knew it was going to get difficult to continue on the same terms, which is why we had asked for negotiations.Since India Cast did not get back to us till March,we are in a rightful position," said Bose.

Gujarat is a critical market for GEC channels as it has a large viewership for fiction. Hathway's managing director and chief executive officer Jagdish Kumar said the issue of carriage fee and content cost is up to IndiaCast to solve. Hathway, a listed company, has investments from global private equity players like Providence.

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/cable-news/item/2436-35-channels-go-off-air-in-12-cities-over-carriage-fee-dispute.html
Source: http://cablequest.org/news/cable-news/item/2436-35-channels-go-off-air-in-12-cities-over-carriage-fee-dispute.html