Hectic parleys yesterday in New Delhi between broadcasters and those MSOs whose signals were snapped off  seem to have paid off.

According to industry sources, the Delhi talks between the warring factions has resulted in some compromise formula whereby broadcasters (Sony, Zee and Disney Star) are likely to restore their respective TV channels’ signals to MSOs, which will again lighten up the cable TV screens in consumers’ homes that had gone blank since Saturday last.

However, the timing of signal restoration is still not known till the time this report was drafted. A source admitted that it could happen today, if not already done late yesterday evening.

In the Delhi meeting, industry associations’ representatives from IBDF and AIDCF were not present, according to the sources. The respective companies held talks and agreed to move on.

Commenting on the truce being worked out, analyst Karan Taurani of Elara Securities said, “The issue had started five days ago on Saturday (February 18) and may not have had a negative impact on advertising and subscription revenue, as the issue has been largely resolved within a week.”

Even as the Kerala High Court continued to hear yesterday the petition filed by the All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF) and Kerala Communicators Cable Ltd (KCCL), promising to take the case up again on Friday (today), one of the petitioners decided to sign the interconnect agreements with the broadcasters.

In a letter to AIDCF on Wednesday, KCCL said, “We have evaluated the market situation very seriously and are constrained to take a decision to move ahead and sign the RI0 agreement with broadcasters.

“Though we are agreeable to the decisions taken by AIDCF for all general issues, in business decisions relate(d) to pay channels, we will have to adopt our own strategy, considering the nature of our existing market and keeping in view our supreme priority to meet our customer expectations.”

Meanwhile, major broadcasters, including Star, told the Kerala High Court yesterday that AIDCF, a federation of MSOs, has challenged TRAI’s 2022 tariff order purely for commercial interests and not because they were concerned about the consumers, a PTI report from Kochi stated.

Star, represented by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, told Justice Shaji P Chaly that MSOs get Rs 130 per consumer per set-top box each month and want the price cap on channels to be at Rs 12 so that the consumer base increases.

Regarding the disconnection of signals of some MSOs last weekend, Rohatgi told the court that under the law broadcasters were required to block signals to MSOs if there is no agreement with them within 90 days after the tariff order issued by TRAI.

“Since November 1, 2022, we have been asking them (MSOs) to sign the agreement, but they did not come. Hence, we had to disconnect signals,” he said, according to the PTI report.

The arguments would continue on Friday.

AIDCF has claimed in its plea that under the 2020 regime, the price of the “driver” channel in a bouquet was capped at Rs 12, but under the latest tariff order it has been increased to Rs 19.

However, even the 2020 regime was not properly implemented till now by TRAI, it had alleged. The regulator had refuted the allegation, saying that the 2020 regulations and tariff order regarding TV channel pricing was not implemented as all stakeholders, including AIDCF, were of the view that it requires a re-look.

The telecom and broadcast regulator also claimed that AIDCF had consented to the price cap of Rs 19 per channel.