The Hindu Business Line : Cable operators block Zee channels

CABLE television operators in Chennai today blacked out HBO, Cartoon Network and the entire bouquet of Zee channels protesting the hike in subscription fee by these channels.

According to the cable operators, HBO and Cartoon Network recently got on to the Zee platform, following which the subscription fees were increased from about Rs 12 to Rs 28.30. The cable operators told these pay channels that they would not be able to pass on the increase to their subscribers and, hence, requested them to keep the hike in abeyance.

However, according to the cable operators, the pay channels told them that the last increase was made almost a year ago, compared to the hike announced by the Star channels, which came within nine months of the previous increase and was absorbed by the operators.

The operators said that they had authorised Sumangali Cable Vision and Hathway, the two-multi system operators in Chennai, to negotiate with the pay channels on their behalf.

Some operators said that unlike the Tamil satellite channels which were free to air, the Zee channels were not very popular in Chennai. Hence, they found it difficult to pass on the increase to their subscribers.

Also, Zee insisted that the operators take all its channels as a bundle and kept on increasing the subscription fees for each one of them. This also was not acceptable, the operators said.

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