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

Mumbai: Tata Play, India’s largest direct-to-home (DTH) television service provider, has decided to remove all TV channels of Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) from the plans of nearly 10 million subscribers. The removal began with one million subscribers on Thursday and will continue for the next 10 days, Harit Nagpal, its managing director and CEO, told Mint.

The DTH operator said it was doing so because of the channels’ low viewership but SPNI termed the move "arbitrary" and "retaliatory".

Nagpal said while about 40-50% of Tata Play’s customers subscribe to Sony channels, only 25% actually watch them, according to viewership data. He said, “Without return path data, it’s challenging to identify the 75% of subscribers who pay but don’t watch these channels. As a customer-centric company, we decided to remove these channels to reduce the monthly DTH bills of these subscribers. “Those who want to continue watching Sony channels can subscribe again via our app or call centre, or by sending a text message. The reactivation is almost instantaneous."

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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.

This is retaliation, says Sony

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."

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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."

Not the first time

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. In March 2022, Tata Play voluntarily downgraded the subscription plans of nearly half its subscribers. The unprecedented move resulted in monthly savings of ₹30-100 per subscriber and helped reduce churn for the company.

Nagpal said, “Given the flexibility we offer, we wanted to experiment with dropping the bouquet with the least viewership. In this case, it was Sony. This will reduce customer bills accordingly."

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About the decision to stagger the removal over 10 days, he said, “This eases the load on call centres. The decision is based on data showing four times more people subscribe to Sony channels than actually watch them. We've aimed to benefit our subscribers by making this process easy over the years. Our logic is straightforward: since less than a quarter of subscribers are watching, 75% should save money by not paying for unused channels."