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Zee likely to up bouquet price to take on Star

NetScribes/Sunil Joshi

On what can be touted as the battle of giants in the media industry, Zee has strategically made a move to pit itself against the numero uno - Star India.

The industry is rife with speculation that media major Zee has raised its bouquet prices. The existing bouquet is priced at Rs 13.50 and cable operators in the city confirm that the Zee bouquet will be priced at Rs 30 effective June 1.

If Zee does indeed peg its bouquet at Rs 30, it will be standing up against the most formidable player in the race - Star India, whose bouquet is also priced at Rs 30. This may sound a little bit unrealistic, but analysts support the move.

"A channel-wise comparison between the two companies will make the picture more clear. Star Plus has the upper hand on Zee TV despite the fact that the latter addresses a regional audience. However, Zee MGM has recently scored over Star Movies with Zee MGM showing pick of movies. It's the same case with Star Gold versus Zee Cinema. Plus Zee has an additional array of regional Alpha channels which Star misses out on," says an analyst at a leading brokerage firm.

Zee officials, however, do not subscribe to the news. "We have not received any official intimation from the authorities," said the Zee spokesperson.

However, the fact remains that the rumored figure just might be correct. Surprisingly enough, cable operators have for the first time welcomed the move. With most cable operators in the city increasing subscription rates, the bouquet increase will not hit their bottom line.

Interestingly, Sony Entertainment Television CEO Kunal Dasgupta says: "We will observe the market impact for a while before deciding on revising our bouquet price."

Again, market observers peg the Sony bouquet to touch Rs 20 from the existing Rs 13.

Cable operators on the other hand are not disturbed.

"We have increased our monthly rentals and, therefore, the bouquet increase will not hurt us much," says Atul Saraf, President,

Cable Operators of Mumbai Association. Incidentally, cable operators have struck a deal with broadcasting channels, which translates into the rise being directly passed on to the subscriber. This means that if a broadcaster increases its bouquet price, the cable operator can pass it on to the subscriber by increasing the monthly rental.

But the picture is more from perfect for channels. The Monopolies & Restrictive Trade Practices Act on Friday issued notices to major channels Star India, Sony and Zee for "hiking subscription fees frequently and arbitrarily".

It has been alleged that the channels had increased the subscriber fees frequently and arbitrarily. The turn of events have led to a balance of sorts being established.

But the customer will have to wait to see what happens.

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