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ESPN, TRAI head-to-head in India |
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| Rose Major, on 22-07-2008 |
 Trouble is brewing for ESPN in India, even as its pan-Asian joint venture, ESPN Star Sports, celebrates bagging rights to the 2010 Vancouver and 2012 London Olympic Games. The broadcaster has been ordered by the Telecoms Regulatory Authority of India
(TRAI) to renegotiate its carriage agreements with DTH operators to
bring them wthin TRAI’s directives.
If ESPN does not renegotiate its agreements, the broadcaster risks having its uplinking and downlinking licences revoked.
A dispute between ESPN, operator of three sports channels ESPN, Star
Sports and Star Cricket, and DTH operator TataSky has been bubbling
away for some time. ESPN has maintained that it does not have to accept
mandated carriage fees – 50% of those paid to non-conditional access
cable operaors – as it is not part of TataSky’s basic package, being
moved to an “add-on-pack” at the beginning of June.
TRAI’s show-cause notice, issued on July 22, said: “the revised
Reference Interconnect Offer [RIO, or carriage agreement], in the
clause ‘A A-la-carte and Bouquet Rates for DTH Platform’ specifies
price per set top box per month which are the rates reported for the
non-CAS price of the respective channels and the bouquet of channels
instead of fifty per cent of the non-CAS price, as directed in the said
Direction.”
ESPN is now required to show cause within three working days as to why
action, including fines and a possible revocation of its downlinking
licence, should not be initiated.
Meanwhile, ESPN’s joint venture with News Corp’s Star TV, ESPN Star
Sports, has won exclusive cable and satellite rights to the 2010
Vancouver Winter Olympics and the 2012 London summer games for 22
countrues across South East Asia and the Indian subcontinent.
IPTV and mobile TV rights are also included in the deal, which should
total some 200 hours of London coverage and around 60 hours of
Vancouver coverage.
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