Airtel DTH going to remove ESPN HD & STAR CRICKET HD effective 23rd December !!

[technobhatt]

:sad:
Friends! As I just read on a DTH forum; there seems to be a very bad news for all the Airtel HD DTH subscribers.

Airtel Digital TV will remove ESPN HD and Star Cricket HD from 23rd december 2012 - Videocon D2H, Tata Sky, Dish TV, Airtel/Reliance Digital, Sun DTH, DD Direct Plus help and discussion forums

Airtel is going to remove ESPN HD and STAR CRICKET HD effective 23rd December

Delhi, 01 December, 2012 :readwhere

Being a die-hard Sports Lover, these are the channels I watch most of the time...I would never want these sports HD channels go off my TV.
I have already written an email to Airtel expressing my protest on this shocking decision by ADTV.
Wish the news doesn't come out true !! Amen !!

 

[jmascreen]

Airtel are cheats, I had purchased the sports package for one year which will end by next april only. Now they are removing the sports HD packs and also they had moved the normal ESPN, Star Sports and Star cricket from existing package and asked me to pay 50 Bucks extra per month if I want to have it.

Really cheats, how can the do it when I had already paid for a year ?

 

[Josh!]

Any HD channel should not be removed and that to Sports HD channel should never be removed.

They are adding Sony Six HD and Zee Studio HD which is excellent for me.

 

[AtheK]

that would mean bye bye Airtel for me.

 

[EthenHunt]

yes..really bad decisions from airtel...its a bye bye to airtel dth..

 

[mathan]

Airtel are cheats, I had purchased the sports package for one year which will end by next april only. Now they are removing the sports HD packs and also they had moved the normal ESPN, Star Sports and Star cricket from existing package and asked me to pay 50 Bucks extra per month if I want to have it.

Really cheats, how can the do it when I had already paid for a year ?

There is always a fine print they would point out to when you subscribed.
Each and every DTH provider is a cheat in one way or other.

 

[mathan]

Any HD channel should not be removed and that to Sports HD channel should never be removed.

They are adding Sony Six HD and Zee Studio HD which is excellent for me.

When are they adding these two channels? Are they sacrificing the two sports channels for these channels

 

[dial2karthik]

to my understanding , they cant add extra HD channels until march 2013 ( came across multiple dth forums ) . Thats primary reason they are replacing HD channels wit new ones. Height of insanity from Airtel in removing these two channels...

 

[AtheK]

So airtel Added Zee Studio HD and Sony Six HD, but still have not removed the Sports HD channels. It would be awesome if they keep all of them

 

[dial2karthik]

yeah noticed the additions.. but as per the news it wont be available from 23dec onwards.. probably will get a better idea by that time

 

[dial2karthik]

while Zee Studio is a great addition I don see big value in sony six.. lest NBA t aint worth...

 

[Josh!]

Yes Yesterday I have added/ top up the Zee Studio HD for Rs 23/month added to my ~Rs570/month charge.
Quality is as expected good one but there is one issue with this channel.
The AirTel Logo on Zee Studio HD is very much bright
It is more prone to IR for Plasma panels.

 

[Josh!]

Yes Yesterday I have added/ top up the Zee Studio HD for Rs 23/month added to my ~Rs570/month charge.
Quality is as expected good one but there is one issue with this channel.
The AirTel Logo on Zee Studio HD is very much bright
It is more prone to IR for Plasma panels.

Yesterday they made the AirTel logo semi transparent on Zee Studio HD

 

[garfield]

We should all just stop Airtel subscriptions till they restore these two channels. I will definitely not be renewing.

 

[mathan]

Officially I got a SMS now that they would be removing both these channels from 23rd of Dec. It is chaos with all DTH providers as even if we move to another provider there is no gurantee that they would not do the same as Airtel has done now. So if someone has paid for an year for these channels do they lose out? They should not treat customers like this. TRAI needs to do more to regulate them but will that ever happen?

 

[jaivelu]

I to got the official SMS from Aritel telling that ESPN HD & STAR CRICKET HD will be off-air from 23rd December 2012. I have subscribed for both these HD channels. Now its all gone...

What they've done is very clever.

Since, they don't have any bandwidth space for additional HD channels, what they have done is make space for Zee Studio HD & Sony Six HD by replacing the ESPN HD & Star Cricket HD.

Because they are continue to air SD channels of ESPN & Star Cricket, they are not going to loose those sport loving subscribers also.

What they have done is they cleared two HD slots for Zee Studio & Sony Six. That's a very clever..

In the end, those who have subscribed to HD channels are the stupid ones....:annoyed:

 

[jaivelu]

For long, I have been deliberating about a shift to Videocon D2H.

Now, the time has come to make a move to Videocon D2H. These Airtel people cheating their subscribers by removing channels which have been subscribed and enormously increasing the prices also. Airtel has been thrusting these useless channels onto people which they even think about subscribe (or) won't subscribe. (i.e. sony six etc.)

So, its utter stupid of me to stay with them anymore.

Videocon D2H here I come.......:indifferent14:

 

[technobhatt]

For long, I have been deliberating about a shift to Videocon D2H.

Now, the time has come to make a move to Videocon D2H. These Airtel people cheating their subscribers by removing channels which have been subscribed and enormously increasing the prices also. Airtel has been thrusting these useless channels onto people which they even think about subscribe (or) won't subscribe. (i.e. sony six etc.)

So, its utter stupid of me to stay with them anymore.

Videocon D2H here I come.......:indifferent14:

My Airtel subscription stands till 26th December and I have made it clear to these Airtel morons that I will not recharge it anymore.
All I watch on TV is Sports HD & News Channels now a days and that is being snatched due to some stupid management decision in Airtel DTH...that too ESPN HD & Star Cricket HD !! Right before Indo-Pak series...damn it!!

Every other service provider is continuing with ESS HD channels, what the hell is wrong with Airtel!!
I have already emailed them twice clearing my stand. But only one customer's complain won't do nothing !! If thousands of subscribers complain, then only something can happen.

For the same reason, I never go for yearly/half-yearly recharge..no matter how good the bulk recharge offer is!!...because we are always at the mercy of these DTH providers.

 

[mathan]

If thousands of subscribers complain, then only something can happen.

For the same reason, I never go for yearly/half-yearly recharge..no matter how good the bulk recharge offer is!!...because we are always at the mercy of these DTH providers.

Mere complaint would not do good. Thousands of subscribers need to shift then only they would wake up. Like mobile portability if we have for DTH they would not do this but that could be only in our dreams. I subscribed to Airtel recently b'cause they had both these sports HD channels and now I am tempted to move to Videocon but down the line after 6 months or a year Videocon might go Airtel's way and then we have to shift to another provider. This becomes a vicious circle. We cannot even sell their hardware and there are few takers for that since it belongs to the service providers. How cleverly they have devised their schemes.

 

[jbgude]

Apparently,some other DTH providers also are not going to show these sports channels due to the sudden increase in rates by ESPN / STAR. As has been pointed out, there is no guarantee that the other DTH providers will not do the same in future.

Another very irritating distubbing feature, especially on some channels is the cross advertising of upcoming programmes bang in the centre of the screen - where is the TRAI when we need them ?!