AIDCF members reach an agreement with broadcasters

New Delhi: The ongoing impasse between cable operators and broadcasters Thursday came to an end after the All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF) members reached an agreement with the broadcasters to sign interconnection agreements on a without-prejudice basis.

Highly placed industry sources confirmed the development adding that the three broadcasters – Disney Star India, Zee Entertainment and Sony TV – are expected to resume the signals of their channels soon to all the cable operators.

As per the resolution reached between the two parties, the interconnection agreements may be revised depending on the outcome of the court case.

This comes on the back of AIDCF failing to secure any interim stay from the Kerala High Court after the hearing for the fourth consecutive day.

Not AIDCF vs TRAI but Reliance vs Star?

What appeared to be a tariff tussle between cable operators and broadcasters, in the beginning, turned out to be a showdown between two corporate media houses with seven MSOs switching sides.

Star India, Zee Entertainment and Sony TV switched off their channels for the cable operators on February 18 who chose not to comply with the provisions of the amended new tariff order (NTO 3.0) notified by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

The NTO 3.0 came into force on February 1 and all the DTH operators and cable operators except 13 MSOs signed interconnection agreements with the broadcasters in order to ensure smooth telecast of all the channels to their subscribers.

The non-compliant MSOs moved to several high courts across the country under the aegis of the All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF). 

While the high courts denied any interim stay on NTO 3.0, Kerala High Court is hearing the matter on daily basis and MSOs are leaving the battlefield one by one with each passing day.

A senior executive at one of the seven MSOs switching sides told NewsDrum.in that they gradually realised the tussle was manufactured by Reliance using its three MSOs to hurt Star India before the IPL season.

“We were losing a huge chunk of subscribers every day who will never come back. Whereas, broadcasters’ loss is temporary. People will find their way to the content they want to watch through several means including OTT and DTH operators and hence the broadcaster will not lose its audience. It is us who lost our subscribers permanently,” said the executive on the condition of anonymity.

“A company as big as Reliance can afford such a loss to satisfy their ego and bleed their competitor. In fact, a portion of the subscribers may move to Jio connections which will ultimately benefit their cause. It was certainly not our fight and we were manipulated and used. Hence we pulled out from this fight,” he added.

Also read: Star, Zee, Sony channels disappear from cable TV? Who is behind this?

In a letter addressed to Manoj Chhangani Secretary General, AIDCF, on Wednesday, Kerala Communicators Cable Ltd (KCCL) & KVBL Managing Director Sureshkumar PP also said that Jio and DTH platforms were exploiting this crisis and adopting new strategies to capture their valuable customers.

KCCL was a prominent member of AIDCF with over 3.1 million subscribers which switched sides and signed the interconnection agreement on Wednesday complying with NTO 3.0.

With this, KCCL was the seventh MSO to comply with NTO 3.0 following the footsteps of Siti Cable, its JV ICNCL, UCN Cable, Thamizhaga Cable TV, Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV and KAL Cables, who initially were non-compliant.

In its fight with broadcasters, AIDCF was left with six MSOs – GTPL Hathway, Hathway Digital, Den, In Cable owned by NXT Digital of Hinduja Group, Fastway Transmissions, and Asianet Digital.

The combined reach of these six MSOs was at 2.5 crore homes out of which Reliance-owned GTPL Hathway, Hathway Digital and Den control 1.8 crore homes amounting to 75% of the homes that were not receiving Star India, Zee Entertainment and Sony channels.