India’s Hathway carriage spat with Times Network
January 12, 2018
By Chris Forrester
India’s giant MSO Hathway Digital Cable TV is involved in a carriage fee dispute with Times Networks, and has taken down access to 10 channels across its major distribution system in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore. Local sources say about 10 million households are directly affected.
Hathway is saying that it has an agreement in place with Times Network Channel which is due to run until the end of March, and that Times is refusing to honour that agreement citing a drop in ad-revenues. Hathway says that Times is not paying its carriage fees.
The Times Network channels pulled out by Hathway include News Channels Times NOW, Times NOW HD, ET NOW and Mirror NOW and the English Entertainment Channels Movies Now HD, MN+, MNX, MNX HD, Romedy NOW, Romedy NOW HD and Zoom.
The Times Now group of TV channels are backed by India’s major media conglomerate with about 11,000 staff and its lead publication is the Times of India. The business is owned by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.