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Tag: Shantanu Aditya

  • SET Discovery files complaint with Trai against Hathway Bhawani

    SET Discovery files complaint with Trai against Hathway Bhawani

    MUMBAI: SET Discovery has filed a complaint with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) against Hathway Bhawani Cabletel & Datacom for switching off Sony TV without prior notice.

    Hathway Bhawani had switched Sony TV off on Friday (11 February) in the evening, just before the popular show Indian Idol was to start on the channel. “They did not give us any notice. We are taking the issue up with Trai,” says SET Discovery president Shantanu Aditya.

    While Trai is wanting broadcasters to give a month’s notice to cable operators before switching off signals, Aditya says the same should be applicable to cable operators. “The switch off can happen from multi system operator (MSO) to the distributor and the last mile operator. We want to tell Trai that this should stretch across the value chain,” he adds.

    Hathway Bhawani director Kulbhushan Puri dismisses such charges from SET Discovery. “We didn’t switch off Sony. It was purely a technical reason. The channel is back on our cable network,” he says.

    In a related development, SET Discovery has given feed to Abhay Vision, a local cable operator who has won a contract to service Bhaba Atomic Research Centre (BARC). Hathway Bhawani was earlier servicing BARC. “This is what has angered Hathway Bhawani. We were told not to provide feed to the other cable operator. But under Trai’s `Must Provide’ regulation we can’t deny content to anybody. Cable operators are forming informal monopolies,” says an official in Sony.

  • Sony moves Delhi High Court against Trai

    Sony moves Delhi High Court against Trai

    MUMBAI: Sony Discovery has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court challenging the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (Trai) jurisdiction over contractual matters. This follows Trai’s directive to Sony Discovery to restore signals to a defaulting cable operator without proper notice.

    “We filed a writ petition in the High Court today. We want to protect our Consitutional right to collect contractual dues,” says SET Discovery president Shantanu Aditya.

    On 12 January Trai had directed SET Discovery to take immediate steps for restoration of signals to Allahabad-based Three Star Communication. Sony Discovery, the joint venture company which distributes a bouquet of television channels, had switched off signals to the cable network on 14 December 2004.

    According to Trai, this was against the Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable Services) Interconnection Regulation, 2004, issued on 10 December. Broadcasters are required to issue one month notice before disconnection of signals in case of cable operators defaulting payments. The regulator had asked Sony Discovery to scrupulously comply with the requirements of the regulation.

    Sony’s contention is that Three Star Communication was a chronic defaulter since January 2004 and owed dues worth Rs 0.42 million. “We switched them off after giving them appropriate notice,” says Aditya.

    But isn’t Sony required to issue a month’s notice after the regulation came into existence? “We had served them notices earlier and they had made commitments which they haven’t honoured,” says Aditya.
     

  • Post-HBO exit, Sony to cut bouquet rate by Rs 5.60

    Post-HBO exit, Sony to cut bouquet rate by Rs 5.60

    MUMBAI: Sony-Discovery bouquet will reduce the monthly subscription rate of its existing bouquet by Rs 5.60 to Rs 49.40 a month per subscriber in the New Year, following the exit of premier movie channel HBO to the rival Zee-Turner bouquet.

    The revised rate will come into effect from 1 January, 2005. “We had agreed with HBO on an effective price of Rs 5.60 for the channel. Since HBO is moving out of our bouquet, we are revising our price structure downwards, as per the Trai (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) regulations,” Sony-Discovery president Shantanu Aditya tells indiantelevision.com. The broadcast and cable regulator had recommended that channels launched after 26 December, 2003 could not be bundled with the old bouquet.

    Animax and Discovery Travel & Living, the new pay channels, will form part of a separate bouquet and be priced at Rs 10 each. “All the new channels that we launch will form part of this bouquet,” says Aditya.

    But what English movie channel would replace HBO? “We will unveil the details at the right moment,” he says.

    Sony will have the tough task of building a strong movie channel as HBO was one of the key driver channels in the bouquet. The effective price of HBO, according to information available with indiantelevision.com, was Rs seven a month per subscriber. HBO will form part of the Zee-Turner bouquet with effect from 1 January, 2005.

  • FICCI SCaT conference on Indian C&S sector on 16 Oct

    MUMBAI: The Who’s who of the cable and satellite industry will be attending the FICCI SCaT conference on the Indian Cable & Satellite sector as part of the FICCI Frames 2004 Knowledge Series on 16 October in Mumbai.
    The prominent speakers at the conference will include Sony Entertainment Television CEO Kunal Dasgupta, FICCI Entertainment Committee Chairman Yash Chopra, Zee Networks chairman Subhash Chandra Goel, FICCI Western Regional Council chairman Sushil Jiwarajka and INCable Networks chairman Ram Hongorani among others.
    After the inaugural address by Chopra, TV Guide & Satellite and Cable TV magazine’s publisher and editor Sudeep Malhotra will give the welcome address.
    The key topics that will be discussed in the morning session will be – The future of the C&S industry, FICCI’s role and initiatives as the apex body of the C&S sector and What the future holds for C&S industry.
    NDS director solutions James Field will moderate the afternoon session – CAS to Cash: Generating revenue through Conditional Access which will be followed by Hingorani’s session on The road ahead for MSOs.
    Brief presentations will also be made by successful niche channels on their ‘Secrets to Success.’
    The latter half of the day will see the likes of SET-Discovery Pvt Ltd president Shantanu Aditya presiding over the session Distribution strategy of Satellite Channels and Swissfone, USA president and CEO Rajiv Sharma moderating the session on VoIP (voice over Internet telephony)- Value added services for cable networks.
    The conference will be wrapped up with a Q&A session moderated by Sudeep Malhotra.