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AXN's Calcutta switchoff: Sony's
viewpoint
Sony Entertainment
Television (SET) has denied that Calcutta-based cable TV
operator RPG Netcom has switched off AXN, a channel it distributes
in India, a claim the MSO had made a couple of days ago.
RPG had claimed that it had pulled the plug on AXN because
SET was asking it to pay higher subscription fees to continue
re-transmitting the service to its sub-operators. SET COO
Rajesh Pant says this is untrue and that it was actually
Sony, which had switched off the cable operator's signal
and not the other way around. Says Pant: "There isn't even
a price hike for AXN. What we are asking them to do is pay
us for a higher subscriber base than they have been doing
so up to now. We are asking for higher subscriber counts.
We had given them some notice but they were not interested
so we switched them off."
He however is quick to add. "We are not in a fighting situation
with them as of now. I expect the entire situation to get
resolved very amicably across the table. Give it time."
Pant says the channel is doing fine having achieved a penetration
of 2.5 million subscribers. "The actual figure is actually
11-12 million because cable ops actually declare only 20-30
per cent of their subscriber base. We are reasonably happy
with out collections from the cable TV trade. I am sure
cable operators and consumers see value in the service,
hence we are asking them to give us fees for a larger number
of subscribers."
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