Sudip Acharya, Managing Director, Dishome Media, informed that the annual contract has not been renewed as Star India has voluntarily increased the price of the package. Because of this Star’s channels have stopped broadcasting.
In Nepal, 32 channels are broadcast under the Star package, including Star, Star Sports, Star Gold and other channels popular among Nepalese viewers. Consumers have complained that the television packages purchased do not contain Star channels.
Managing Director Acharya said that the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has been asked to make a rule that foreign chains can charge only on the basis of the number of customers. ‘Indian channels bullied us,’ says Acharya, ‘now we need to invest in strengthening Nepali television content.’
Packages of other channels including Sony, Colors and Star are being sold in Nepal, due to which Indian channels are taking billions of rupees from Nepal every year.
Recently, there has been a dispute between Dis Media and various Indian content creators. According to Star India sources, there was a dispute with Dishome due to non-meeting of standards related to payment and compliance.