Tata Play starts to remove Sony channels from 10 million subscribers' plans

livemint.com:

Picture imperfect: Why Gaurav Banerjee has an arduous job at Sony He acknowledged that the removal would hit the company's revenues but emphasised that would ensure that only viewers who wanted these channels would pay for them. An SPNI spokesperson said in response to Mint’s queries, "SPNI has recently become aware of Tata Play's decision to remove Sony channels from nearly 10 million subscribers’ bouquets.

This decision appears to have been made without notifying SPNI or considering subscriber preferences. We believe this is retaliation for exercising our audit rights on Tata Play's subscriber management system, where we've noted and communicated several discrepancies over the past years." Also read: Why Harit Nagpal of Tata Play loves field visits The spokesperson added that Tata Play's claim of low viewership was misleading.

"We are confident that our loyal viewers, who appreciate diverse and high-quality content, will continue to find our channels through other platforms nationwide. Our commitment to delivering top-notch entertainment remains unwavering, ensuring our audience never misses their favourite shows and channels, despite Tata Play's actions," they said.

A Tata Play spokesperson said in response, “Tata Play submits detailed statements from its SMS (subscriber management system) for the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th of every month to broadcasters. Our SMS is also regularly audited by authorised auditors of the TRAI and never have any discrepancies been found by any of these audits." This isn't the first time Tata Play has removed channels from subscribers’ plans to reduce their bills, but it's the first time it has targeted a specific broadcaster.