MUMBAI: Airtel digital TV has said that it will stop carrying ESPN HD and Star Cricket HD just ahead of the India-Pakistan series.

The DTH operator cited high subscription fee as the reason for the removal of these two channels. It will stop carrying both the channels from 23 December.

ESPN HD is priced at Rs 141.8 while Star Cricket HD is priced at Rs 119.9. The two channels are available at Rs 183.2 in a bouquet.
"We will stop carrying ESPN HD and Star Cricket HD because the price is very high from a consumer point of view," Airtel digital TV CEO Shashi Arora said.

Airtel will replace the two channels with Sony Six HD and Zee Studio HD.

Other DTH operators like Dish TV and Sun Direct have not been carrying the two channels for quite some time. However, Tata Sky, Reliance Big TV and Videocon d2h are carrying them.