Tata Sky To Remove 26 Channels Over Expiry, Breach of Contract

Direct to home (DTH) operator Tata Sky has said it will remove 26 channels from its platform due to expiry and breach of agreements. The DTH operator has issued a public notice stating that the 26 channels will cease to be carried on the platform with effect from three weeks from the date of publication of the notice.

The notice stated that 17 channels will be discontinued from the platform due to expiry of agreement while the remaining will be removed due to breach of agreement.

Among the channels that will be removed due to expiry of agreement include Al Jazeera, Manoranjan Movies, R Plus, Music F, Sangeet Bhojpuri, Mastiii, 9X Tashan, Swara Sagar, Captain TV, Mega TV, News 7 Tamil, Kalaignar Isai Aruvi, Kalaignar Sirippoli, Kalaignar, Kalaignar Seithigal, Jinvani TV, and Oscar Movies Bhojpuri.

Nine channels namely News Time Bangla, Dhoom Music Bangla, Rupasi Bangla, Prag News, Vedic, Aastha Bhajan, Care World, Janta TV, and Puthiya Thalaimurai.

In September, the DTH operator has issued a notice stating that it will discontinue 37 channels from the platform due to violation and expiry of agreement.

In its notice, the DTH operator had stated that Suddhi TV, Shop CJ, Bangla TV, Jonack, DY 365, News11, NHK World TV, Studio N News, Assam Talks, Adhyatm, News7 (Prameya News), CVR News, CVR Health, CVR Spiritual Om, CVR News English, APN, Jai Paras TV, Paras Gold, Dangal, Enterr10, Fakt Marathi, Bhojpuri Cinema, Buland News Samachar Plus, HNN 24×7, News1 India, V6, and Jai Maharashtra will be removed due to breach of agreement.

Further, 10 channels namely HomeShop18, MediaOne TV, Safari, Khabrain Abhi Tak, Bharat Samachar, 9XM, 9X Jhakaas, 9XO, 9X Jalwa, and News India 24×7 were to be removed due to the expiry of agreement.

In October, the DTH operator had removed Sony Pictures Networks India’s (SPNI) channels from its platform due to non-renewal of agreement. The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) had directed the two parties to enter into an agreement either negotiated or reference interconnect offer (RIO) with in four weeks from 11 October.

Tata Sky also had a fallout with ZEEL and IndiaCast Media Distribution over the renewal of content deal.

Tata Sky is India’s second largest DTH platform with 25% share of the active pay DTH subscribers market of 67.53 million.

According to a Crisil report, Tata Sky’s net profit had zoomed to Rs 408 crore for the fiscal ended March 2018 as against Rs 8 crore in the previous fiscal. Tata Sky’s FY18 revenue had jumped 8% to Rs 5719 crore from Rs 5302 crore in FY17. The revenue was Rs 4472 crore in FY16. – Television Post