MUMBAI: In one of the biggest announcements after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) came out with its regulation, two months ago, that prevented aggregators from bundling channels of different broadcasters, Star Den Media services and Zee Turner have decided to part ways with distribution JV MediaPro coming to an end.

The networks will be setting up their independent affiliate sales team for their respective channels. The networks are also banking on the recent tariff hike given by TRAI as a positive boost to subscription revenues.

Zee Entertainment MD Punit Goenka said,  "We  had  created  this  Joint  Venture  to  address  various  anomalies  in  the  analog market, curb  piracy  and introduce  transparency for the benefit  of all stakeholders.  I must say that we have been very satisfied with the outcome  of the partnership.  In the last three years, with  DAS getting  implemented, India  is truly on  the path  to digitization. First  two phases of DAS have already been implemented. Given the new regulation, Uday and I have taken a call to continue the business at an independent  level. I wish our JV partners all the very best in their future endeavors."

Star India CEO Uday Shankar  added,  "MediaPro  has been  a truly delightful and path breaking  partnership.   Punit  and I created MediaPro with the objective of accelerating  digitization, promoting transparency and introducing best practices  in distribution.  Thanks to the commitment  of both parties the JV has delivered exceptionally well on each of these.   I am proud  to say that MediaPro also led the industry consensus for the most efficient way of moving to a digital domain.  This in turn allowed  us to offer better content to our viewers.  In the light of new regulation, both partners have decided  to build independent affiliate sales. I take this opportunity to compliment the entire MediaPro team lead by Arun Kapoor for creating  a best-in-class organization  that  helped  pioneer  digital transformation of cable."