A "full blown war of words" is taking place between Star Sports and the Raheja group-owned multi-system operator Hathway "after the latter removed signals of channels of the global sports broadcaster from its packages and offered it for the more expensive pick and choose option," according to the PTI. Star Sports accused the multi-system-operator of violating Telecom Regulatory Authority of India regulations "by not informing customers in advance before offering its channels on a-la-carte basis." Hathway said that "it has followed all the rules and regulations of the regulator." The dispute started after Hathway, a leading multi-system-operator with more than 11 million subscribers in 140 cities, "removed Star Sports bouquet of four channels from its regular package and asked its viewers to pay a-la-carte to subscribe." When asked about the reason for putting Star Sports channels on a-la-carte basis, Hathway Managing Dir & CEO Jagdish Kumar G. Pillai said, "We have been paying them on a fixed pay basis, which worked out to be a very unreasonable amount on a 'per subscriber' basis" (PTI, 4/10).
