ESPN-STAR SPORTS FINALLY TAMES CABLE OPERATORS

Round three of the telecast of the World Cup Cricket tournament has gone to ESPN-Star Sports. Reason: it seemed to have succeeded in putting a stop to the so-called piracy being resorted to by cable operators whenever a World Cup match was aired. Last week, Indian cable operators were at their best behaviour and a majority of them did not block the ESPN-Star Sports ads with their own locally-collated commercials during the World Cup telecast.

The scenario is a total reversal of what was witnessed for a week after the commencement of the World Cup telecast in cricket crazy India. Warning messages on the two sports channels, written notices not to block ads, personal calls from the ESPN-Star Sports distribution team and the threat of arrest and fines failed to rein them in. They aired commercials freely on the two channels after getting the go ahead from local political heavyweight Bal Thackeray's daughter-in-law-turned-film producer Smita Thackeray. Earlier they had refused to cough up the increased subscription fee for Star Sports but finally caved in as the World Cup approached.

What brought about the change in the cable operators' stance? ESPN-Star Sports' refusal to kowtow to cable operators' demands to allow them to air full-fledged commercials. It, however, did not protest too much to the insertion of scrolling ads at the bottom of the TV screen. The company brought the Consumer Guidance Society of India (CGSI) into the picture also. The CGSI issued a press release stating that what the cable operators were doing was illegal and that they were going to take up the issue - apart from other cable operator-related problems - with the Monopolies & Restrictive Trade Practices Commission.

It also announced that it would cooperate with the police force to ensure that errant cable operators are hauled up and sent to jail. It would do this in the interests of consumers who have been getting a raw deal from cable operators, the CGSI said. Blocking of channels, shifting of channels from a tunable frequency to a non-tunable one, poor signal quality, an informal and illegal demarcation of cable TV areas between themselves, are some of the malpractices that cable operators resort to the CGSI pointed out. It added that it would take up all these issues with the authorities.

While the ESPN-Star Sports tactic seems to be working at the time of writing, the feeling in the industry is that there will be a major backlash in future once the World Cup concludes. ESPN-Star Sports has the rights to the Wimbeldon tennis championship. Cable operators will once again raise their heads at that time and keep the ESPN-Star Sports management busy.