Star India offers incentives to cable TVops in amended RIO agreement

[Dinesh jain]

MUMBAI: Star India has incorporated a slew of
incentives in its amended reference interconnect
offer (RIO) for cable TV platforms with the
objective of making its channels affordable on a
la carte basis. It, however, remains to be seen
how the multi-system operators (MSOs)

The incentive to the MSOs is based on the
number of Star channels carried, the number of
viewers and the ease of access to these
channels.
Platforms that still opt out of the revised RIO will
have the option to choose and take channels as
per the original list price.
The incentive offered by the broadcaster to the
cable TV platforms has three criteria—
penetration incentive, LCN incentive and channel
count incentive.
Star India CEO Uday Shankar said, “This new
initiative is aimed at empowering consumers with
greater choice and platforms with the ability to
customise their offerings as per the needs of
their viewers. Crucially, this initiative will usher in
a new era of transparency in the domain. It will
provide a clear and transparent way for the
broadcaster to work with the operator
community, thereby improving the health of the
entire digital ecosystem.”
The initiative has been designed to put in place a
transparent system that offers better choices for
consumers and to rid the industry of the
broadcaster-platform disagreements that have
riddled it in the past.
Shankar further added, “Star’s focus has always
been to put consumer interests first and
foremost, without hurting the viability of either
the broadcaster or the platforms. We believe our
new initiative will provide the required fillip to
moving to a true digital ecosystem in Phase I
and Phase II markets.”
Star India offers incentives to cable TV ops in amended RIO agreement | TelevisionPost.com