"If Star Movies has a reach of 40 million homes, its reach could fall to 2 million if the TRAI ruling is implemented. Not everybody would necessarily want to subscribe to the channel in a-la-carte environment," Krishna further explains. If the reach of the channel drops it will not just be loss of subscription revenue, it will also impact advertising revenue, as one of the most important criteria for an advertiser to invest money in a channel is its reach.
The court's verdict is expected any day and if it goes against Star, it is going to be a huge loss for the broadcasters at large.