Mumbai: Star and Disney India has deferred the launch of 15 (SD+HD) channels and renaming of one channel until further intimation.

“This is to inform all distributors of television channels that the launch of following 15 channels and name change of following one channel have been deferred till further intimation by Star,” it said.

The channel launches that have been held back include Star Gold Romance, Star Gold Thrills, Jalsha Josh, Star Movies Select, Pravah Pictures, Star Kirano, Star Sports 1 Tamil HD, Star Sports 1 Telugu HD, Disney Channel HD, Hungama HD, Star Gold 2 HD, Pravah Pictures HD, Vijay Super HD, Asianet Movies HD and Star Kirano HD. The renaming of Marvel HQ to Super Hungama has also been delayed till further notice.

The broadcaster had published its new reference interconnection offer (RIO) on 15 October mentioning the new channels and declaring the new channel and bouquet pricing in compliance with the new tariff order (NTO) 2.0. Star planned to launch its new channels between December 2021 and January 2022.  

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) notified that it has extended the deadline for implementation of NTO 2.0 till 1 April 2022. In the meanwhile, broadcasters must revise their RIOs by 31 December and distribution platform operators must report their distribution retail price of pay channels and bouquets by 31 January 2022.

The broadcasters’ association Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation (IBDF) and Trai have been embroiled in a legal battle on the matter of NTO 2.0 implementation. The final hearing of the Supreme Court on the matter is on 30 November.