Star, CODA meet over Tata Sky push in colonies

Star, CODA meet over Tata Sky push in colonies

Tata Sky

MUMBAI: Senior Star India executives and representatives from Cable Operators and Distributors Association (CODA) met today to resolve issues relating to Star One and direct-to-home (DTH) marketing methods of Tata Sky.

Star assured the cable TV operators that it would try and arrange a meeting with Tata Sky executives in an effort to patch up differences. Cable operators have been perturbed by the way Tata Sky has been approaching housing societies in Mumbai with the proposal of offering residents a central dish antenna through which it can connect individual installations and offer DTH service.

"We made them understand that we had nothing to do with the Tata Sky distribution system. We assured them that we would take up the matter with Tata Sky and arrange for a meeting with their senior executives," said Star India distribution head Tony D'Silva. Also present in the meeting were Star India CEO Peter Mukerjea and COO Sameer Nair.

Regarding Star One, CODA representatives told Star that the operators would take a decision after they meet on Tuesday. "We are meeting tomorrow to decide on whether we should withdraw our stance against Star One. We will also decide when we will take our complaint to Tdsat (Tribunal Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal) against Tata Sky," CODA vice president Ravi Singh said.

Cable operators in Mumbai have pushed Star One into a higher frequency, forcing the channel to move out of its prime band location in all networks across the city.

"We want the Star logo to be out of the leaflet that Tata Sky is distributing in housing societies to rope in DTH subscribers. We put this up in the meeting with Star executives today. We also wanted Star to arrange for a meeting with Tata Sky CEO Vikram Kaushik next week," said Singh.

The Star Group has a 20 per cent stake in Tata Sky with the balance being held by the Tatas.