DDF Exclusive Star Sports First Channel Added in Adtv ..

[Jithin91]

My take on why Airtel added Star Sports First on day one:

After the news of potential TataSky merger with Bharti Airtel, Star TV's stake in DTH shareholding will be reduced and hence control over DTH operations in India will be reduced. So Star had to hit back by increasing investment in another mode of transmission -DD Free Dish. Airtel in turn wanted to show Star who's friend and also boss and acquired the channel on day one so as to not give any exclusive addition to Free Dish. The game will continue and Star will try to continue it's FTA gambit until Airtel gives them some assurance on plans post merger with TataSky. This is just my theory and may be 100% false.

The DTH deal would be a more complex exercise. Tata Sky is a joint venture between the Tata Group and Rupert Murdoch-controlled 21st Century Fox. Murdoch wants to increase stake in Tata Sky but is bogged down by a regulation that allows broadcast companies to own only 20% stake in a DTH company. Currently, 21st Century Fox owns 30% stake in Tata Sky while the Tata Group holds 60% and the remaining 10% is with Temasek Holdings.
Star India, 21st Century Fox’s wholly owned India subsidiary, will not want to be part of the telecom venture. Therefore, the DTH deal has to be dealt with separately. It has to be an entity having the DTH businesses only. The possibility could be that Star’s holding remains the same in the merged entity while Tata Group gets to dilute its stake.

From TelevisionPost

 

[Optimus_Prime]

added in myplan 99&199.