Broadcaster Star India has issued a disconnection notice to direct to home (DTH) operator Bharti Telemedia, which provides DTH services under Airtel Digital TV brand.
The notice has been issued for non-signing of the subscription agreement, non-payment of subscription fees and non-submission of subscribers reports.
As per regulation, the signals of Star channels to the DTH operator will be deactivated after three weeks from the date of publication of the notice.
“This is to inform the subscribers of Bharti Telemedia that signals of the Star India channels are likely to be disconnected on account of (a) non-signing of the subscription agreement, (b) non-payment of the subscription fees, and (c) non-submission of subscriber reports by the DTH operator,” Star said in a public notice.
Star India develops, produces and broadcasts 69 channels in SD and HD in eight languages while Airtel Digital TV has a total subscriber base of 13.9 million.
In November 2017, Star had issued a disconnection notice to Tata Sky, in which its parent company 21st Century Fox holds 30% stake, on account of non-signing of subscription agreement by the DTH operator.
However, Tata Sky MD and CEO Harit Nagpal had later informed that the two parties have more or less ironed out their differences and are close to signing the subscription agreement.
Star has also locked horns with the multi-system operator (MSO) Siti Networks as the contract between the two parties has not been renewed. The two parties earlier had a fixed fee deal for two years worth Rs 90.96 crore. Siti has put Star channels on a-la-carte basis since 1 January.
