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The Star Network on Tuesday announced its new subscription package of RS 30 per month.
A company release said the hike worked out to an increase of RS 6 per subscriber.
Justifying the release, Star India CEO Peter Mukerjea said: "We would like to hold on to our subscription rates, but because of the underdeclaration of subscribers by the trade we had no option but to increase the prices. We get paid for only a small fraction of the homes that receive cable and satellite channels."
Yash Khanna, head corporate communications, said that only one sixth of actual connectivity was being declared.
When queried as to what sort of response he expected from the hike he said Star was bracing for a possible blackout in Calcutta where RPG had 75 per cent C&S penetration while rival Zee Telefilm‘s Siti Cable had the remaining 25 per cent. As to what would be the response from other centres, he said they would have to wait and see.
Earlier, when informed of the impending hike, Shamim Shaikh of Mumbai-based independent MSO Seven Star Satellite Network had said there was no question of their accepting the new package. "None of the operators will accept these new rates and except for Hathway (where Star has a 26 per cent stake) it will probably lead to a situation that Star will switch off our feeds," Shaikh said.
