Sun To Pull Out 18 Channels From Reliance Big TV Bouquet

[Papu]

Sun To Pull Out 18 Channels From Reliance Big TV Bouquet

Chennai, August 28, 2013 - Sun TV Network Ltd has informed subscribers of Reliance Big TV that it will pull out 18 of its channels from the direct-to-home service provider following Reliance's "failure to make payments towards outstanding amounts".

News reports had earlier said Sun Direct was likely to acquire the business of Reliance Big TV and that a due diligence exercise was on. Senior executives at Reliance had then told Business Line that they did not want to comment on speculation. But, according to industry sources, it may take a while to decide this issue, as it calls for a lot of understanding between the two entities. The industry sources now say the merger plan between the two companies may not go through "as there is some disagreement on the valuation". The two companies have been sharing their back-end facilities for a couple of years now. After a technical glitch in INSAT 4B in 2010, Sun Direct entered into a long-term agreement with Reliance Digital to share the latter’s bandwidth in MEASAT 3.

In this backdrop, Sun TV Network today said in a "Public Notice" that the signals of K TV, Sun Music, Sun News, Gemini TV, Gemini Comedy, Udaya TV, Udaya Comedy, Udaya Movies, Udaya News, Gemini News, Gemini Music, Gemini Movies, Adithya TV, Sun TV, Udaya Music, Chutti TV, Surya TV and Kiran TV will be disconnected after three weeks on account Reliance Big TV’s failure to clear outstandings.