The Hindu : Ten Sports not to raise charges

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 07, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Ten Sports not to raise charges

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, MARCH 6. Trying to set the record straight, the cable distribution partners of Ten Sports in India today clarified that the price of the channel would not be changed and remain at Rs. 14.

"Despite the fact that Ten Sports had the highest viewership for the entire year of 2003 and broadcasts the world's best cricket properties, including the current Australia tour of Sri Lanka and England's tour of the West Indies, not to mention the most important series in the television history - India's tour to Pakistan - we will not increase the channel's price. Instead we will charge Rs. 14 - the price when the channel had launched in India two years ago,'' clarified President CDN Lalit Modi.

Instead, the channel is claiming that they have only asked cable operators to increase their number of declarations which are currently hugely under-declared. "`We are simply asking them to pay what they pay other channels who broadcast Indian cricket, even though the India-Pak series is far bigger than the average Indian tour. We have asked them to increase their total declarations to at least 25-30 per cent of the total subscriber base,'' said Mr. Modi.

The cable operators on the other hand allege that the channel is "blackmailing'' them. "It is true that they have not increased their price of Rs. 14 but they have asked us to increase the connectivity by at least three to four times much beyond our subscriber base. How can we do that? They are taking advantage because they are the only ones with the rights for this particular series,'' said Mukesh Verma of Siti Cable.

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