Jan. 15: Virat Kohli's Team India has played its part in breaking a stubborn cable television partnership that just wasn't cricket.
Thousands of subscribers have found an escape from network monopoly since the STAR India bouquet went off multi-system operator (MSO) Manthan's beam 10 days ago - the first such large-scale migration from a cable television distributor over poor service.
Channels disappearing from cable television packages sold to subscribers is an old irritant, but an anti-competition collusion between the big operators had so far ensured that MSOs didn't lose business.
"There is this pact that we call the MSOs' truce. Basically, nobody tries to woo the local cable operators (the link between subscribers and an MSO) from any competing network. This time, there was pressure on us from STAR India to break it," said an official of an MSO.
According to industry estimates, Manthan has lost at least 30,000 out of its four lakh-odd subscribers in the past few days. Many of these subscribers now receive signals from MSOs to which their cable operators have migrated. The rest have opted for direct-to-home (DTH) television through operators like Tata Sky, Airtel and Dish TV.
The catalyst in this change has been the India-England ODI series that began today. STAR Sports is the official broadcaster of the series and pressure from fans demanding to watch the live telecast was apparently one of the factors that forced many cable operators to migrate to other MSOs.
The STAR India network also includes channels like STAR World, which is currently showing the latest season of Koffee with Karan, STAR Movies, STAR Plus and STAR Jalsha. The network went off the Manthan beam on January 5, allegedly due to non-payment of dues totalling Rs 29.23 crore.
STAR India said in full-page advertisements last Tuesday and today that subscribers should move to other distributors or DTH if they wished to continue enjoying their favourite programmes.
In reality, cable subscribers can pick a DTH platform but not an MSO of their choice. It is the cable operator that chooses the MSO. When a cable operator changes MSOs, the old set-top box is replaced with a new one.
Industry sources said Manthan had lost subscribers to Siti Cable and Hathway, apart from DTH. "Manthan has lost huge numbers in Shyambazar, Bagbazar, Rashbehari Avenue, Behala and Garia. Talks between some cable operators still connected to Manthan and other MSOs are underway," said a cable operator.
Manthan is also losing numbers in the districts, especially in Birbhum and Burdwan, where it has "payment issues" with RailTel.
Sudip Ghosh, director of Manthan, could not be reached for comment.
Additional reporting by Snehamoy Chakraborty
