A massive furor was witnessed on Twitter after netizens started to trend #BiggestMediaScam on social media. #BiggestMediaScam started to trend in the backdrop after over a third of cable and satellite homes in India started missing popular channels from Star, Sony, and Zee networks since Saturday which is called a TV blackout. The TV blackout took place over channel pricing issues with cable operators. The issue exposes the fault lines in the television broadcasting industry. To be precise, major broadcasters like Star, Sony, and Zee networks switched off their channel broadcasting for local cable operators resulting in a TV blackout since Saturday in multiple states. Now, the question arises what is #BigeestMediaScam and what the local cable operators are saying in this?
What is #BiggestMediaScam?
Three of India's largest media companies, Star, Sony, and Zee, went off cable platforms due to the implementation of the New Tariff Order 3.0 (NTO 3.0). This move has disrupted the Indian media landscape, leaving many viewers without access to popular TV channels as just a black screen appearing on the television. The NTO 3.0 was implemented on February 1 this year under which broadcasters have increased prices in the range of 10-25 percent. However, the new pricing structure has led to disputes between media companies and local cable operators, with many channels being taken off the air due to pricing disagreements. The dispute between Star, Sony, and Zee and cable operators centres on the pricing of their channels. The media companies claim that the new pricing is necessary to keep their revenue up, while cable operators argue that the new regulations have led to an increase in costs for them and since Indian consumers are price sensitive, they're fearful of passing the cost to them owing disconnections. Some have turned to DTH and streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, while others have resorted to illegal streaming sites.
What did Netizens say over TV Blackout or #BiggestMediaScam?
A user wrote, "Ever since I came to know about it, I am sad, very much wrong & everyone is also disappointed about it."
Ever since I came to know about it, I am sad, very much wrong & everyone is also disappointed about it.#BiggestMediaScampic.twitter.com/PPQ2CIv1Lw
— mitali (@mitali258) February 22, 2023
"This decision is definitely worst to be honest man. They are going against it's consumers. What a horrible news of the day.." wrote another user.
This decision is definitely worst to be honest man. They are going against it's consumers. What a horrible news of the day..#BiggestMediaScampic.twitter.com/OERIDysRuJ
— Sunny Chaudhary (@SunnyCh88554548) February 22, 2023
Another user wrote, "What everyone expecting and where are going to watch everyone should take away distance because scammers on fire #BiggestMediaScam"
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What everyone expecting and where are going to watch everyone should take away distance because scammers on fire #BiggestMediaScam @Sam_Balsara @Ogilvy @prasoonjoshi_ @hvgoenka pic.twitter.com/lXiJucJCB5
— Reena Shah (@ReenaJi_) February 22, 2023
What local-cable operators have done to counter this?
In Kolkata, a day after broadcasters switched off channels following a section of MSOs' refusal to accept a price hike, cable TV operators' associations across the state wrote to CM Mamata Banerjee on Sunday, seeking her intervention. They have pointed out that a court order issued verbally had asked broadcasters not to switch off channels till February 20 which has been violated by the latter. The switch-off has led to a withdrawal of a majority of Star TV, Sony TV and Zee TV channels that were taken off the platforms of most MSOs in the state, including GTPL-KCBPL, Hathway and DEN that cover 65% of cable homes in Bengal.
Apart from Kolkata, a federation of major multi-system operators in the country on Monday told the Kerala High Court that the blocking of signals or feed to them by broadcasters led to around 5 crore consumers suffering a blackout on their TVs during the last weekend. The federation, AIDCF, urged the high court to protect it and its consumers from such actions by the broadcasters, like Star, Sony and Zee, till its plea challenging telecom regulator TRAI's amended interconnect regulations and tariff order of 2022 was decided. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF), argued before Justice Shaji P Chaly that the earlier regulations and tariff order of 2020 was extended by TRAI till February 2023. "So what was the tearing hurry to implement the 2022 regime when the matter was coming up for hearing today?" he contended.