Two can play at the game. With the Bombay High Court expected to issue a ruling tomorrow on the ongoing spat between the Hinduja Group MSO InCableNet and sports broadcaster ESPN Star Sports, an advertisement appeared in leading Mumbai afternooner Mid Day today detailing how costs for airing all channels have spiralled 475 per cent in the last four years.

InCableNet took the newspaper ad route and gave a detailed breakdown of costs explaining how the current subscription rates were untenable unless conditional access systems were introduced giving viewers the freedom to select what they wished to see.

Earlier it was ESPN Star Sports that took out newspaper ads and distributed leaflets through vendors criticising cable operators as being unreasonable for not signing on to its new subscription rates.

Headlined "What's your problem Dubeyji (referring to the the local cable operator)?", the flier asks the question - "How can you say 80 paise a day is too much?" - (which is what the new monthly subscription rate of Rs 24 for the two channels works out to).

With both sides playing out their battle through the media, the court's ruling in the matter has become that much more crucial.