Star India announces new tariff structure

New tariff is based on uniform pricing instead of bilaterally negotiated deals

Broadcast network Star India announceda new incentive based tariff structure for its multi system operator (MSO) partners in order to further transparency in dealings.

In an industry first, Star has introduced a new tariff structure with cable platforms based on uniform pricing instead of bilaterally negotiated deals.

Uday Shankar, CEO of Star India, said,"This new initiative is aimed at empowering consumers with greater choice, and platforms with the ability to customize their offerings as per the needs of their viewers."

"Crucially, this initiative will usher in a new era of transparency in the domain. It will provide aclear and transparent way for the broadcaster to work with the operator community, thereby improving the health of the entire digital eco system," he added.

The revised reference-interconnect-offer (RIO) or tariff will be in force for one year with digital platforms in Phase 1 and Phase 2 markets (of digitisation).

The channels are all offered on a basis that allows the platform payouts to vary as per their choice of content and incentives. The incentive would be based on the number of STAR channels carried, the number of viewers and the ease of access to these channels.

Platforms that still opt out of the revised RIO will have the option to choose and take channels as per the original listprice.

This initiative from Star stems fromthe desire to have a transparent system that offers better choices for consumers and to rid the industry of the broadcaster-platform disagreements that have riddled it in the past.

Most recent of these disagreements was the Star India and Hathway case where the matter was ultimately taken to the Telecom Disputes Settlement and AppellateTribunal (TDSAT).

Sources close to Star reveal that while the network has no problems if the MSO's prefer to pay on anala-carte basis (that is only for the channels subscribed rather than carrying all the channels lumpsum and paying Star accordingly) broadcasters in general are skeptical of the transparency ofdeclaration of subscribers.

In case of direct-to-home platforms, theback-end system is streamlined and the subscribers are efficientlydocumented. However, MSO's are yet to achieve that level oftransparency in their operations.