Kolkata: Around a fourth of Kolkata’s football-lovers missed the Euro semifinal between Spain and France early on Wednesday as all Sony TV channels, including its sports channels that are now beaming the Euro matches, were taken off four multi-system operator (MSO) platforms that cater to around 70% of cable homes in Kolkata. The move followed a dispute over channel prices between the MSOs and the broadcaster.
Sony Pictures Network India (SPNI), which has over 30 entertainment and kids channels in multiple languages apart from five major sports channels and their HD versions — Sony Sports Ten 1, Ten 2, Ten 3, Ten 4 and Ten 5 — went off air on Monday on GTPL-KCBPL, DEN, Hathaway and Metrocast that account for around 39 lakh cable homes in Bengal and more than 10 lakh in Kolkata. Networks like SitiCable and Meghbala, however, remained unaffected. Several other MSOs across the country, too, had Sony channels taken off.
“The move is unfair on subscribers who have been paying for these channels throughout the year. This amounts to arm-twisting by the broadcaster. While it’s a war between the broadcaster and the MSOs, the ordinary subscriber and the local cable operators are caught in it,” said Tapash Das, convenor of the All-Bengal Cable TV & Broadband Operators’ United Forum.
Subscribers were livid at the blackout that left hundreds calling local cablemen frantically after midnight. Football fan Sujoy Sen thought it was a local issue. “Then I found all Sony channels missing and guessed they had been taken off. I got Sony LIV immediately and saw the match on my phone,” said Sen.
Sony is seeking an unfair price revision even as it has been losing its prime content to other channels and switching them to their OTT platform, according to Vijay Agarwal, MD of GTPL-KCBPL. “Their agreement with us expired in Feb but they waited till the Euro to start negotiating for an enhanced price. Their demand is unreasonable for they have already lost attractive content to other OTT platforms,” added Agarwal.
A meeting was held in Ahmedabad between the broadcaster and MSOs on Wednesday though its outcome was not clear till late in the evening.