ITV

Tag: B D Ahmed

  • Star India wins: SC disallows Prasar from retransmitting shared sports feed live

    Star India wins: SC disallows Prasar from retransmitting shared sports feed live

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has said that shared feed of sporting events can only be carried on the terrestrial network of Doordarshan or DD FreeDish. 

    The judgement would help private broadcasters like Star India from possible losses in subscription and advertising revenues due to sharing of signals with Prasar Bharati which were eventually carried by private DTH and cable operators. Immediately after the judgment became known, DD and PB officials went into a huddle to study the ramifications. A DD official declined to comment.

    In a significant judgment, a division bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi said that, though the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act, 2007, allows the feed of a sporting event of national importance to be shared mandatorily with Prasar Bharati, the public broadcaster cannot utilise it on a notified channel which has to be compulsorily carried by private distribution platforms. 

    While the judgement enables Prasar Bharati to expropriate the feed, the private sports channels will not be competing against Prasar Bharati on a commercial basis for the same content. 

    The judgment came on an appeal by the pubcaster against an order obtained by Star India from a two-judge bench of the Delhi High Court comprising Justice B D Ahmed and Vibhu Bakhru.

    Also Read:

    Star Bharat to be available on DD FreeDish as b’caster’s fourth FTA offering

    Prasar may soon launch OTT, keep tabs on DD costs, exploit reach

  • Case by MSOs challenging Entertainment Tax to be heard on 27 May by DHC

    Case by MSOs challenging Entertainment Tax to be heard on 27 May by DHC

    NEW DELHI: Three multi-system operators were given interim relief in January in the entertainment case issue. In January, the case was adjourned to 13 March and today has further been adjourned to 27 May by the Delhi High Court. However, the HC said that the stay order issued earlier in January to multi-system operators in entertainment tax issue will continue.

     

    DEN Networks, Hathway Cable & Datacom, and Siticable had moved the court seeking protection against the Entertainment Tax Officer’s order to pay entertainment tax.

     

    Acting Chief Justice B D Ahmed and Mr Justice Siddharth Mridul gave the order on a plea by counsel for the petitioners.

     

    DEN Networks, Hathway Cable & Datacom, Siti Cable and InCable were ordered to pay entertainment tax due since April 2013.

     

    Orders were issued directing the four MSOs to file returns and deposit the pending tax amount with interest under the Delhi Entertainment and Betting Tax Act and Rules, 1996.

     

    The MSOs argued that it was the local cable operator who should pay the entertainment tax. They had moved the Court to prevent any coercive action.

     

    DEN and Hathway argued in the last hearing that they are not liable to pay entertainment tax from April since they have started consumer billing only from November. DEN also argued that the entertainment tax must be collected only on actual collections. The MSO also sought clarity from the tax department whether entertainment tax is paid on per subscriber or per set-top box (STB) basis. While Siti Cable adhered to pay entertainment tax, it challenged the quantum of the tax. IMCL 

  • HC hearing on Nimbus challenge to telecast ordinance on 12 February

    HC hearing on Nimbus challenge to telecast ordinance on 12 February

    NEW DELHI: Even as the Delhi High Court today refused to stay the operation of the ordinance promulgated last week making it mandatory for private sports channels to share live feed of any international sports event with Prasar Bharati, the telecast controversy is coming up for hearing in two different benches of the court on 12 February.

    Justice BD Sharma, who is hearing the appeal by Prasar Bharati against an earlier order of the court permitting seven-minute deferred telecast on Doordarshan, rejected the plea by Nimbus Communications, owner of Neo Sports, seeking a stay on the Ordinance.

    Nimbus informed the Court that it had filed a petition in the court of a division bench headed by Chief Justice MK Sarma challenging the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Ordinance and that court had fixed the matter for Monday.

    The Counsel for Nimbus Gopal Jain informed the division bench headed by Chief Justice MK Sarma that Neo Sports was challenging the ordinance, as it was arbitrary and unconstitutional.

    The private sports broadcast channel also contended that the Ordinance violates its fundamental right under Article 19 (1) that is rights to speech and expression and its intellectual property right.

    (Mr Justice Ahmed had yesterday questioned the Government’s reasoning in promulgating the Ordinance saying, ”The Rule of Law should not have been subverted,” even as the government said it would challenge any court order favouring Nimbus’ insistence on deferred telecast. Justice B D Ahmed had wanted to know why the government was so swift in bringing an ordinance and added that the whole thing left a bad taste in the mouth.).