Airtel DTH and ESPN Star Sports smoke peace pipe

Airtel DTH and ESPN Star Sports smoke peace pipe

Airtel DTH

MUMBAI: It was a spat, which was in the works for almost six months. But now it has been resolved - amicably, at least if one goes by a press release issued by ESPN Star Sports (ESS).

Though details are not available on what the terms are ESS has signed a multi-year agreement with Airtel Digital TV to enable distribution of its channels Star Cricket, Star Sports, Star Sports 2, ESPN, Star Cricket HD and ESPN HD on the latter's DTH platform.

In late 2012, Airtel had yanked ESPN and Star Cricket HD channels from its platform citing prohibitive pricing of the two channels. Then on 22 March, the sports network deactivated the channels on its DTH and IPTV platforms due to Bharti Telemedia and Bharti Airtel's "non-signing of agreements and breach of statutory obligations."