JitendraKumar
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MUMBAI: Dish TV will get the IndiaCast UTV channels on reference interconnect offer (RIO) terms even as the content aggregator successfully resists giving carriage fees to the direct-to-home (DTH) service provider.
This is how the settlement has taken place at this stage. And this is how the arrangement will be after Dish TV and IndiaCast UTV, which distributes the TV18 and Disney group of channels, end their existing content deal on 31 December 2013.
Dish TV subscribers will thus get the IndiaCast UTV channels which they opt for. The DTH service provider believes that the reach of the ‘unwanted’ channels will drop and there will be pressure on the content aggregator to pay carriage fees. IndiaCast UTV, on the other hand, believes that consumers will put pressure on Dish TV.
IndiaCast distributes channels such as Colors, MTV, Vh1, Nick, CNBC TV 18, CNN IBN, IBN7, CNBC Awaaz, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Hungama TV, Bindass, UTV Movies and UTV Stars.
The dispute between Dish TV and IndiaCast landed up at the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), primarily driven by the DTH operator’s need to get carriage income or effectively reduce content cost. Dish TV has launched a new service that allows its subscribers to select channels on ‘request only basis’. It has proposed to classify most channels as ‘on request’ channels, which will be available to subscribers on a ‘request only’ basis. Subscribers who chose not to request for a channel or channels will not receive those channels from a cut-off date.
While Dish TV wanted to structure new deals on the basis of RIO, IndiaCast wanted to make sure that no carriage was involved. Incidentally, Dish TV, for the first time, has come out with a carriage rate card, seeking to collect fees from television channels.
Dish TV approached TDSAT, demanding IndiaCast to provide the signals of its channels on RIO basis.
IndiaCast agreed for a RIO deal so that they need not pay carriage fees. The content aggregator contended that if Dish TV was asking for carriage fees, then the ‘must provide’ clause would not hold.
With both the sides agreeing to their terms, the TDSAT disposed the case. “Dish TV has agreed to take all our channels on RIO basis and no carriage will be charged from IndiaCast UTV channels,” IndiaCast Media Distribution Group COO Gaurav Gandhi told Tele visionPost.com.
The existing content deal between Dish TV and IndiaCast UTV is on a fixed-fee basis.
The RIO basically provides broad technical and commercial terms and conditions which a DTH or MSO would need to satisfy to obtain interconnection from a broadcaster for distributing the channels. As per TRAI directive, if a DTH operator makes a request to a broadcaster to enter into an interconnection agreement based on the published RIO, then the broadcaster will be obliged to do so within 45 days of the request. However, the two parties can also enter into mutual agreements on ‘non-discriminatory basis by deviating from the RIO’.
This is how the settlement has taken place at this stage. And this is how the arrangement will be after Dish TV and IndiaCast UTV, which distributes the TV18 and Disney group of channels, end their existing content deal on 31 December 2013.
Dish TV subscribers will thus get the IndiaCast UTV channels which they opt for. The DTH service provider believes that the reach of the ‘unwanted’ channels will drop and there will be pressure on the content aggregator to pay carriage fees. IndiaCast UTV, on the other hand, believes that consumers will put pressure on Dish TV.
IndiaCast distributes channels such as Colors, MTV, Vh1, Nick, CNBC TV 18, CNN IBN, IBN7, CNBC Awaaz, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Hungama TV, Bindass, UTV Movies and UTV Stars.
The dispute between Dish TV and IndiaCast landed up at the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), primarily driven by the DTH operator’s need to get carriage income or effectively reduce content cost. Dish TV has launched a new service that allows its subscribers to select channels on ‘request only basis’. It has proposed to classify most channels as ‘on request’ channels, which will be available to subscribers on a ‘request only’ basis. Subscribers who chose not to request for a channel or channels will not receive those channels from a cut-off date.
While Dish TV wanted to structure new deals on the basis of RIO, IndiaCast wanted to make sure that no carriage was involved. Incidentally, Dish TV, for the first time, has come out with a carriage rate card, seeking to collect fees from television channels.
Dish TV approached TDSAT, demanding IndiaCast to provide the signals of its channels on RIO basis.
IndiaCast agreed for a RIO deal so that they need not pay carriage fees. The content aggregator contended that if Dish TV was asking for carriage fees, then the ‘must provide’ clause would not hold.
With both the sides agreeing to their terms, the TDSAT disposed the case. “Dish TV has agreed to take all our channels on RIO basis and no carriage will be charged from IndiaCast UTV channels,” IndiaCast Media Distribution Group COO Gaurav Gandhi told Tele visionPost.com.
The existing content deal between Dish TV and IndiaCast UTV is on a fixed-fee basis.
The RIO basically provides broad technical and commercial terms and conditions which a DTH or MSO would need to satisfy to obtain interconnection from a broadcaster for distributing the channels. As per TRAI directive, if a DTH operator makes a request to a broadcaster to enter into an interconnection agreement based on the published RIO, then the broadcaster will be obliged to do so within 45 days of the request. However, the two parties can also enter into mutual agreements on ‘non-discriminatory basis by deviating from the RIO’.
