Broadcasters take another hit

The battle of wills between the world's second largest TV market and its regulator, which began maybe five years ago, continues

The brinkmanship between the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), and broadcasters would be funny if it wasn’t dangerous.

Star, Sony, Zee, among other broadcasters, have just priced their flagship channels at Rs 20 and above, taking them out of bouquets where their prices were mandated by Trai. By one estimate, over 20 million TV subscribers fell off the grid thanks to an earlier tariff order in 2019, the pandemic and OTT (over-the-top). This one could push more of India’s 210 million TV homes off the cable/direct-to-home or DTH grid. Analysts estimate huge value erosion across the chain in the Rs