Tata Sky Pulls Down 32 Sony Channels After Differences in Pricing Emerge

Subscribers of Tata Sky Direct to Home (DTH) service were shocked on Monday as the company revoked 32 channels from its platform, all distributed by Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN). Tata Sky also removed three channels distributed by India Today apart from the above thirty-two channels. Notably, the company took this step because of the widening differences with SPN over the prices.

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Widening Differences on Pricing

The channels which were taken down are some very popular ones and include names such as Sony Entertainment Television, SAB, Max, AXN, Sony Pix, Aaj Tak and India Today TV. , and they were taken down on October 1 on Monday reports Economic Times. The reason this step was taken was that the three year deal between Tata Sky and Sony Picture Networks expired on July 31, since then both the companies have been negotiating over new prices, however, to the disappointment of everyone, they haven’t been able to conclude and move past the negotiation phase.

Subscribers Display Anger on Social Media

Following the issue over the pricing, Tata Sky on Monday decided to remove the channels from its platforms thus triggering a backlash from angry subscribers who took to Twitter and Facebook to express their disappointment. In the meantime, SPN also tweeted from its official account flagging the decision by Tata Sky as “unfortunate”.

Managing Director of Tata Sky, Harit Nagpal said that the discussions over pricing couldn’t bear any fruition because what SPN was asking would have resulted in Tata Sky increasing the prices of the channels. He further added, “We have had to drop a few channels while keeping the popular ones on. While doing so, we are paying Sony much more for the 11 channels retained on the a la carte rate, versus the contracted rate for three-times these channels. We request our subscribers to bear with us, as we are doing this in their best interest.”