By Akansha Srivastava

What started in the garb of a fight between cable operators and broadcasters over the new tariff order (NTO 3.0) in January was just a precursor to the attempts to disrupt the television broadcasting of IPL.

In yet another takedown effort, Reliance-owned three large MSOs – GTPL, Den Network and Hathway – have moved the IPL’s TV rights holder Star Sports from the base pack to higher packs starting April 1.

Change in pricing and packs:

GTPL:

In compliance with NTO, GTPL has increased the pricing of its base pack by 30% to Rs 325 from Rs 250. Star Sports channel, which was available in the Rs 250 pack earlier is not a part of the Rs 325 pack (Power Lite Pack) and has been now moved to the Rs 375 pack onwards.

However, GTPL’s non-FTA base pack of Rs 325 includes Sports18 and Sony Sports Ten3 (sports channels) but does not include any Star Sports channel.

Not only Star Sports but other channels from Disney Star also do not feature in the Rs 325 pack despite the fact that it includes channels from Zee Entertainment and Sony.

Hathway:

Hathway too has increased the pricing of its base pack from Rs 199 to Rs 275. It includes Sony Sports Ten3 and other entertainment channels from Zee and Sony but not even a single Star channel.

Earlier, Star Sports channel was available in the Rs 299 pack but now it would be available in the Rs 335 pack (Hindi Super Value). Other entertainment channels from Star have also been placed in the Rs 335 pack.

Den:

The pricing of Den is similar to Hathway and here too Star channels - including Star Sports - have been moved to the Rs 335 pack (Hindi Super Value) onwards.

Singling out Star

A distribution veteran told BestMediaInfo.com that Reliance is relentless in hurting Star by resorting to 'anti-trade' practices as the broadcaster has been singled out and meted with differential treatment.

“But it cannot be predicted who will bleed as a result of this fight,” the veteran said.

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