ITV

Tag: cable operators

  • Parliamentary panel raps MIB on knuckles for DAS implementation

    Parliamentary panel raps MIB on knuckles for DAS implementation

    MUMBAI: The Parliament’s Standing Committee on Information Technology and Communications (SCIT) has sent out a stern message to the stakeholders of India’s broadcast and cable industry, including the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB): get your acts together.

    BJP MP Anurag Thakur-chaired all-party parliamentary panel has been especially critical of MIB’s handling of country’s digitisation of TV services or digital addressable system (DAS). It pointed out that MIB could not “absolve” itself of “responsibility” of DAS implementation as it was the administrative ministry for media matters.

    It has exhorted the ministry to put in place a monitoring mechanism at the federal level at the earliest to coordinate with the authorised officers for tracking violations by operators and to also hold periodic meetings with the stakeholders concerned to ensure that the mandated cable TV digitisation process is enforced.

    Putting the onus on the ministry to persuade MSOs to complete seeding of consumer data in the cable TV operators’ management information systems at the earliest, the parliamentary panel has directed the government to ensure proper agreements are signed between stakeholders (broadcasters, MSOs and LCOs). MIB has also been directed to update the panel on the progress made by MIB and to take extreme step of even cancellation of MSO licence in case of non-compliance.

     Interestingly, the committee told the nodal ministry to take a final decision within a definite time period in the case of Tamil Nadu government-controlled MSO Arasu Cable in keeping with TRAI norms for MSOs seeking to provide digital service.

     Arasu has been seeking temporary extension of its licence saying it has been unable to fully seed its subscribers with STBs that were taking long to import. In separate recommendations made earlier — not yet accepted by the government — TRAI had suggested barring federal or state governments or its organisations from segments of broadcast and TV services’ distribution.

     The committee said that it expects MIB to address effectively issues raised in the complaints filed by some MSOs and LCOs in Tamil Nadu (mostly against Arasu) and that the ministry should revert within three months reporting the progress made.

    The committee, while suggesting infrastructure sharing for distribution platforms, urged the government to provide necessary resources or financial incentives to distribution platforms like MSOs who were aiming to provide services in rural areas. Its rationale: developing infrastructure individually may be a costly proposition for cable TV operators.

     Alive to number of litigations in the broadcast and cable sectors, the committee exhorted MIB and the government to explore having a dialogue with courts on the need to close early cases relating to TRAI’s new guidelines on tariff, QoS and inter-connect, which were issued in 2016 but challenged in Chennai and Delhi high courts by Star TV-Vijay TV combine and Tata Sky and Airtel Digital. Both the cases are still pending final verdicts from the courts.

    The committee has recommended that an option of pay-per-use, as made available by DTH operators to subscribers, be explored for cable TV too as it could give the consumer more flexible options.

    Finally, the committee has directed the MIB to do a formal cable TV digitisation impact assessment study including all its aspects to get a clear picture on how far DAS has actually been able to achieve its intended objectives.

    Also read:

    Arasu can’t operate outside Tamil Nadu despite DAS compliance

    MIB report: 50% digital STBs seeded during DAS’ first three phases

    Arasu digital STB costs Rs 200, govt alerts subs

     

     

  • Prasar CEO reiterates implementation of SC verdict on DD’s shared sports feed retransmission

    Prasar CEO reiterates implementation of SC verdict on DD’s shared sports feed retransmission

    NEW DELHI: Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati has directed all private direct-to-home and cable operators not to telecast the sporting events’ live feed from Doordarshan that have originally been shared by rights-holding private broadcasters.

    This was conveyed through a tweet by Vempati. Interestingly, some tweets in response vowed to switch over from private DTH to FreeDish.

    This follows orders of the Supreme Court on 22 August 2017 which stated that shared feed of sporting events can only be carried on the terrestrial network of Doordarshan or DD FreeDish, and not retransmitted.

    In the judgment, a division bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi had said 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 judgment 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 Pvt. Ltd. from a two-judge bench of the Delhi High Court comprising Justice B D Ahmed and Vibhu Bakhru.

    The judgment 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.

    ALSO READ :

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

     

  • Block illegal DTH FTA, space dept told

    NEW DELHI: The Department of Space has been asked to block the signals of Asia Broadcast Satellite Free-to-air channels which is beaming in India without the permission of the Ministry.

    Minister of State Rajyavardhan Rathore said this had been done keeping in view the national security angle. He said the I and B Ministry is the licensing authority for DTH broadcasting services in India and it has received no application or reference from ABS for DTH operations.

    Meanwhille, he told Parliament today that there was no violation of Downlinking guidelines by permitted Broadcasters on account of providing signals to unauthorised DTH operators. In order to deter the permitted Broadcasters (channels) from violating the downlinking guidelines, he said the Ministry had issued a Web Notice on 23 December 2015: 

    http://mib.nic.in/WriteReadData/documents/Notice_to_all_Broadcaster_Private_TV_(Channels)_registered_with_MIB_.pdf

    After the Ministry had learnt from Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) that ABS had started providing permitted free to air (FTA) channels, the Home Ministry was consulted from the security angle and its implication from national security perspective.

    The Home Ministry said the transmission of DTH service by ABS is without any application to the I and B Ministry and not in line with the guidelines of that Ministry.

    Clause 5.6 of the Article 5 of Downlinking guidelines issued by Ministry of I&B stipulates that all the Broadcasters (Channels) shall provide Satellite TV channel signal reception decoders only to MSOs/Cable Operators registered under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 or to a DTH operator registered under the DTH guidelines issued by the Government of India or to an Internet Protocol Television Service Provider duly permitted under their existing Telecom License or authorized by Department of Telecommunications or to a HITS operator duly permitted under the policy guidelines for HITS operators issued by the Ministry 

  • PEMRA raids DTH & cable operators showing Indian content

    MUMBAI: A PEMRA team has seized illegal hardware and apparatus of DTH and Cline cable network from various electronics shops in Silanwali (Sargodha), Pakistan, and raided DTH re-broadcasters and viewers who are watching or distributing Indian TV channels.

    Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority assistant general manager Malik Qasim Nawaz said the government had banned foreign channels and dish antenna, the News International reported. Nawaz added that the raids would continue and action would be taken against electronic shops and cable operators for allegedly violating government policies.

    The Sindh High Court earlier vacated its interim order regarding suspension of PEMRA’s ban on Amir Liaquat Hussain’s private TV programme and directed that PEMRA’s order would shall remain in force as per the apex court directive. PEMRA had submitted that it had received hundreds of complaints against the petitioner anchorperson for virulent hate speech during the period — 2 January to 24.

    A senior lawyer of the apex court earlier refused to further represent the Sindh provincial government in a case pertaining to the appointment of advisers for the chief minister Murad Ali Shah.

    Former attorney general Makhdom Ali Khan who was representing the province in the instant matter in private capacity recused himself in view of the Supreme Court verdict taking exception to the practice of federal and provincial departments of hiring services of private lawyers in various cases and paying hefty sums from the national exchequer as their fees.

    Also Read-

    PEMRA announces DTH licence bidders; Indian DTH eviction to continue

    Cancel DTH licence auction, cable operators urge PEMRA

    “Let India open its market, we will open ours” – PEMRA chairman Absar Alam

  • Cable operators seek exemption in entertainment at par with fuel & medical services

    Cable operators seek exemption in entertainment at par with fuel & medical services

    MUMBAI: Although demonetisation of high-demonination currency is largely seen as a boon for a thriving economy marred by a legacy of unaccounted money and corruption, it is a proving to be a bane for the common man. The only basic entertainment that a layman has access to is television which is suffering owing to a severe shortfall of small denomination currency.

    Though the government insists on having made arrangements for dispensing cash in new currency through ATMs and banks, the measures are inadequate for the serpentine queue-avoiding office-goer, a shop-keeper, a commoner and especially a ruralite who hardly has access to financial institutions/institutionalised lenders in India.

    Seven Star Satellite Cable Network founder and chief Atul Saraf said they have been accepting cheques since a long time. However, some of their franchisees were facing difficulties in collecting cash from the subscribers owing to demontisation.

    Generally, around 65-70 per cent of collection in the business is in cash, and the remainder is through cheque. Saraf said they have now made arrangements for online payments from 1 January, 2017.

    Saraf lamented that there was a slowdown in collections owing to cash crunch due to demonetisation. The situation would take at least 3–4 months to come to normal.

    To a question, Saraf said that installation of STBs had picked up pace as a natural progression of digitisation under Phase III and Phase IV in September and October, but it has slowed down again. “Customers are not willing to shell out whatever little cash they have for STBs; rather they would like to use it for buying essentials,” Saraf bemoaned.

    “I have written to the prime minister Narendra Modi to extend the date of exchanging old currency with new by 2-3 months beyond the 31 December deadline,” said Gujarat Cable Operators Association president Pramod Pandya.

    Pandya expects the government to be considerate with the plight of the common man especially in rural India. “Entertainment must also be exempt from immediate adherence to the new currency norms as in casewith fuel and emergency medical services,” said Pandya who is the honorary Gujarat state cable operators’ representative at the
    information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry.

    Customers in the rural areas under DAS Phase IV neither have cheques nor the new currency at all to pay the cable operators. “Approximately 4000 villages in Gujarat that fall under the purview of Phase IV digitisation do not have access to banks or ATMs; where would they fetch the new currency,” Pandya retorted.

    Digicable Network (India) Pvt. Ltd CEO Jagjit Singh Kohli sought to put on record that they have been accepting cheques and online payments since a long time. MSOs have never been averse to receipt of cheques. However, as far as LCOs are concerned, only 20-25 per cent subscribers preferred paying their cable bills through cheques. He parried a question on the status and installations of STBs.

    “We have been accepting cheques and issuing bills since CAS came into the picture around November 2012. But, lately, we have started issuing itemised bills,” said Maharashtra Cable Association Federation chief Arvind Prabhoo said, welcoming demonetisation during the period of transparency and digitisation. A majority of subscribers (around 70-80 per cent) living the areas serviced by operators who owe allegiance to MCOF have been paying trough cheques. “We also started accepting online payments last year,” Prabhoo said.

    “Neither cheque nor cash, however, is a compulsion. We are not insisting on a particular mode of payment,” Prabhoo said. But, subscribers, of course, were facing a shortage of cash, and it would take around 10 more days for things to normalise, he added. To a question on digitization and installation of STBs, Prabhoo said that there had been some reports of increase in STB sale which could be due to good monsoon.

    Since, there was a temporary shortage of cash, Prabhoo said, people were not too keen on buying a STB worth Rs 1500-2000. “The Phase III is stuck due to various court cases, and Phase IV could be delayed by a couple of months as it covers a vast geographical expanse. But, it (DAS III & IV) will happen for sure,” he remarked.

    “The situation in Tamil Nadu is grave as subscribers are neither willing to pay through cheque nor do they have ready cash due to demonetisation,” said Chennai Metro Cable Operators Association general secretary MR Srinivasan.

    The subscription rate is as low as Rs 100 per month in most of the areas (districts) in the state. But, owing to shortage of low-denomination notes, around 1.4 million subscribers in the state are not paying the cable operators.

    “Subscribers offer us old notes of Rs 500, and expect Rs 400 change from us. So, even while we are willing to exchange old notes in the bank, where do we get the change from,” Srinivasan seemed puzzled. And, the subscribers are not willing to pay five months’ advance subscription to tide over the temporary problem.

    “The central government is not effective on digitisation in Tamil Nadu as most of the state, except Chennai, is served by cable companies (directly or indirectly) owned by the incumbent government,” Srinivasan alleged.

    In Chennai, he said, STBs have been installed only in around 10 per cent of the four million (40 lakh) households. Due to court cases against digitisation also, the progress of modernisation is stuck.

    As in case of medical services and petrol pumps etc, Srinivasan expected the government to allow old Rs 500 notes for cable services as well. “At least, for the number of subscribers which have been accounted for, the operators should be allowed to accept that many (old) notes,” he said.

    One may be happy about the cable modernisation and demonetisation to stem the economic decay in the larger interest of the country, there seems to be no denying the fact that it will cause of a lot of tug-of-wars, transition and loss of business and lives, heartburns, political upheavals, dilly-dallying and legal wrangles before we move ahead.

  • Cable operators seek exemption in entertainment at par with fuel & medical services

    Cable operators seek exemption in entertainment at par with fuel & medical services

    MUMBAI: Although demonetisation of high-demonination currency is largely seen as a boon for a thriving economy marred by a legacy of unaccounted money and corruption, it is a proving to be a bane for the common man. The only basic entertainment that a layman has access to is television which is suffering owing to a severe shortfall of small denomination currency.

    Though the government insists on having made arrangements for dispensing cash in new currency through ATMs and banks, the measures are inadequate for the serpentine queue-avoiding office-goer, a shop-keeper, a commoner and especially a ruralite who hardly has access to financial institutions/institutionalised lenders in India.

    Seven Star Satellite Cable Network founder and chief Atul Saraf said they have been accepting cheques since a long time. However, some of their franchisees were facing difficulties in collecting cash from the subscribers owing to demontisation.

    Generally, around 65-70 per cent of collection in the business is in cash, and the remainder is through cheque. Saraf said they have now made arrangements for online payments from 1 January, 2017.

    Saraf lamented that there was a slowdown in collections owing to cash crunch due to demonetisation. The situation would take at least 3–4 months to come to normal.

    To a question, Saraf said that installation of STBs had picked up pace as a natural progression of digitisation under Phase III and Phase IV in September and October, but it has slowed down again. “Customers are not willing to shell out whatever little cash they have for STBs; rather they would like to use it for buying essentials,” Saraf bemoaned.

    “I have written to the prime minister Narendra Modi to extend the date of exchanging old currency with new by 2-3 months beyond the 31 December deadline,” said Gujarat Cable Operators Association president Pramod Pandya.

    Pandya expects the government to be considerate with the plight of the common man especially in rural India. “Entertainment must also be exempt from immediate adherence to the new currency norms as in casewith fuel and emergency medical services,” said Pandya who is the honorary Gujarat state cable operators’ representative at the
    information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry.

    Customers in the rural areas under DAS Phase IV neither have cheques nor the new currency at all to pay the cable operators. “Approximately 4000 villages in Gujarat that fall under the purview of Phase IV digitisation do not have access to banks or ATMs; where would they fetch the new currency,” Pandya retorted.

    Digicable Network (India) Pvt. Ltd CEO Jagjit Singh Kohli sought to put on record that they have been accepting cheques and online payments since a long time. MSOs have never been averse to receipt of cheques. However, as far as LCOs are concerned, only 20-25 per cent subscribers preferred paying their cable bills through cheques. He parried a question on the status and installations of STBs.

    “We have been accepting cheques and issuing bills since CAS came into the picture around November 2012. But, lately, we have started issuing itemised bills,” said Maharashtra Cable Association Federation chief Arvind Prabhoo said, welcoming demonetisation during the period of transparency and digitisation. A majority of subscribers (around 70-80 per cent) living the areas serviced by operators who owe allegiance to MCOF have been paying trough cheques. “We also started accepting online payments last year,” Prabhoo said.

    “Neither cheque nor cash, however, is a compulsion. We are not insisting on a particular mode of payment,” Prabhoo said. But, subscribers, of course, were facing a shortage of cash, and it would take around 10 more days for things to normalise, he added. To a question on digitization and installation of STBs, Prabhoo said that there had been some reports of increase in STB sale which could be due to good monsoon.

    Since, there was a temporary shortage of cash, Prabhoo said, people were not too keen on buying a STB worth Rs 1500-2000. “The Phase III is stuck due to various court cases, and Phase IV could be delayed by a couple of months as it covers a vast geographical expanse. But, it (DAS III & IV) will happen for sure,” he remarked.

    “The situation in Tamil Nadu is grave as subscribers are neither willing to pay through cheque nor do they have ready cash due to demonetisation,” said Chennai Metro Cable Operators Association general secretary MR Srinivasan.

    The subscription rate is as low as Rs 100 per month in most of the areas (districts) in the state. But, owing to shortage of low-denomination notes, around 1.4 million subscribers in the state are not paying the cable operators.

    “Subscribers offer us old notes of Rs 500, and expect Rs 400 change from us. So, even while we are willing to exchange old notes in the bank, where do we get the change from,” Srinivasan seemed puzzled. And, the subscribers are not willing to pay five months’ advance subscription to tide over the temporary problem.

    “The central government is not effective on digitisation in Tamil Nadu as most of the state, except Chennai, is served by cable companies (directly or indirectly) owned by the incumbent government,” Srinivasan alleged.

    In Chennai, he said, STBs have been installed only in around 10 per cent of the four million (40 lakh) households. Due to court cases against digitisation also, the progress of modernisation is stuck.

    As in case of medical services and petrol pumps etc, Srinivasan expected the government to allow old Rs 500 notes for cable services as well. “At least, for the number of subscribers which have been accounted for, the operators should be allowed to accept that many (old) notes,” he said.

    One may be happy about the cable modernisation and demonetisation to stem the economic decay in the larger interest of the country, there seems to be no denying the fact that it will cause of a lot of tug-of-wars, transition and loss of business and lives, heartburns, political upheavals, dilly-dallying and legal wrangles before we move ahead.

  • Cancel DTH licence auction, cable operators urge PEMRA

    Cancel DTH licence auction, cable operators urge PEMRA

    MUMBAI: Pakistan Electronic Media Regularity Authority (PEMRA) has been urged to cancel the auction of Direct-to-Home (DTH) licence and postpone launch of the services for three years. PEMRA was scheduled to auction DTH license on 23 November, adding that this decision would affect several thousand cable operators across Pakistan.

    Peshawar chapter cable operators of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan have urged Pemra to cancel the auction and postpone the launch.

    The Cable Operators Association of Pakistan (COAP) Peshawar chapter also sought take strict action against those providing non-permitted services of operating Indian TV and C-Line across Peshawar. They also sought removal of Indian television channels from all broadcast sources.

    Around 14,000 operators having legal cable license were operating cable system across the country, of which 200 had been operating in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. In Peshawar alone, around 45 operators are delivering cable services.

    Cable Operators Federation of Pakistan coordinator Ali Raza Khan said that they would raise their voice at every forum and would stage protests. Khan said that PEMRA was soon scheduled to auction DTH license.

    Khan told journalists at a conference that the cable operators had put in billions in the digital system on the orders of PEMRA but neither the DTH nor the digital policy was clear to the operators since 2000.

    Cable TV in Pakistan was earlier operated on the analogue system but later switched to digital cable system for which operators invested huge sums. Khan complained against authorities who were planning to launch DTH system.

    PEMRA, Khan said, had received billions as taxes from the operators,. COAP expected that the authorities, instead of adopting dual policy, formulate separate policies for DTH and the digital system. The coordinator added that the sale of C-Line and Dish TV had already multiplied in Pakistan.

    Khan urged the Chief of Army Staff to launch an operation against the illicit sale of C-line and Dish TV, bemoaning that they had met Pemra authorities to seek a solution to the issue, but it did not yield results.

  • Cancel DTH licence auction, cable operators urge PEMRA

    Cancel DTH licence auction, cable operators urge PEMRA

    MUMBAI: Pakistan Electronic Media Regularity Authority (PEMRA) has been urged to cancel the auction of Direct-to-Home (DTH) licence and postpone launch of the services for three years. PEMRA was scheduled to auction DTH license on 23 November, adding that this decision would affect several thousand cable operators across Pakistan.

    Peshawar chapter cable operators of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan have urged Pemra to cancel the auction and postpone the launch.

    The Cable Operators Association of Pakistan (COAP) Peshawar chapter also sought take strict action against those providing non-permitted services of operating Indian TV and C-Line across Peshawar. They also sought removal of Indian television channels from all broadcast sources.

    Around 14,000 operators having legal cable license were operating cable system across the country, of which 200 had been operating in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. In Peshawar alone, around 45 operators are delivering cable services.

    Cable Operators Federation of Pakistan coordinator Ali Raza Khan said that they would raise their voice at every forum and would stage protests. Khan said that PEMRA was soon scheduled to auction DTH license.

    Khan told journalists at a conference that the cable operators had put in billions in the digital system on the orders of PEMRA but neither the DTH nor the digital policy was clear to the operators since 2000.

    Cable TV in Pakistan was earlier operated on the analogue system but later switched to digital cable system for which operators invested huge sums. Khan complained against authorities who were planning to launch DTH system.

    PEMRA, Khan said, had received billions as taxes from the operators,. COAP expected that the authorities, instead of adopting dual policy, formulate separate policies for DTH and the digital system. The coordinator added that the sale of C-Line and Dish TV had already multiplied in Pakistan.

    Khan urged the Chief of Army Staff to launch an operation against the illicit sale of C-line and Dish TV, bemoaning that they had met Pemra authorities to seek a solution to the issue, but it did not yield results.

  • TDSAT dismisses LCO petition, asks TRAI why there is only one MSO in Malway in Punjab

    TDSAT dismisses LCO petition, asks TRAI why there is only one MSO in Malway in Punjab

    New Delhi: Even as it dismissed a petition by Malwa Cable Operators seeking cable TV signals, the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to ‘ponder over and address’ why there were no other multisystem operators in the area.

    It said the rejection of the petition by the Malwa Cable Operators Sangarsh Committee seeking signals from Fastway Transmission Pvt. Ltd was ‘not due to any lacuna in the law’.

    “It is because there is no one other than the respondent to whom these LCOs may go for supply of signals. How and why such a situation has arisen is a question for the regulator to ponder over and to address,” chairman Aftab Alam and members Kuldip Singh and B B Srivastava said in their judgment yesterday.

    They said: “On a careful consideration of the submissions made before us, we come to the conclusion that no reliefs can be granted to the petitioner by the Tribunal”.

    Apart from relying on its own previous judgments, the Tribunal noted that the MSO had made clear that it was not supplying signals in analogue mode to any LCO in the State of Punjab and that it was willing to supply signals to the petitioner LCOs “as per its rate card on the basis of which alone it is supplying signals to other LCOs in the state.”

    The Tribunal also took note of an earlier allegation by the LCOs that Fastway had set up a dummy operator which was supplying signals in the area of operation of the petitioner LCOs in analogue mode and on much cheaper rates.

    Referring to arguments raised by lawyers from both sides on the must provide and non-discrimination clauses, the Tribunal said: “In our view, the two principles of ‘must provide’ and ‘on-discrimination’ as the basis of interconnection cannot operate separately but are inseparable. All that those principles mean is that a distributor cannot refuse to supply signals to a LCO and it must supply signals to the LCO seeking signals from it in the same mode and on the same terms and at the same rate at which it might be giving its signals to another LCO, comparable to the one seeking the signals. As long as the distributor does not supply signals to anyone except in DAS mode, the principle of “must provide” cannot be invoked to compel it to supply signals to anyone in analogue mode”.

    Counsel Abhishek Malhotra had during arguments referred to clause 3 of the Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable Services) Interconnection Regulations 2004 and submitted that the scheme of interconnection envisaged by the regulations was based on the twin principles of ‘must provide’ and ‘non-discrimination’. He submitted that as one of the principles of interconnection was ‘must provide’ the respondent was obliged to supply signals to the petitioner LCOs and they would be free to retransmit the signals in their area of operation in analogue mode as that area was yet to come under the DAS regime.

    The Tribunal noted that it was on a consideration of the recommendations made by TRAI that the Central Government issued the notification dated 11 November 2011 (later amended on 11 September 2014) introducing digitisation of cable TV systems in four phases over a period of four and a half years. “As noted above, the language of the notification is such that it would be unlawful to make transmission in analogue mode in any part of the country that has come under the DAS regime as per the schedule given in the notification. But it is not unlawful to make transmission through digital addressable system in any part of the country that is yet to come under the DAS regime”, the Tribunal said.

    Referring to arguments by Fastway counsel Naveen Chawla, the Tribunal said there was nothing to show that Fastway had committed any breach of any regulations or tariff orders framed by TRAI in either making the packages of channels or in fixing the rates of those packages. Moreover, the language of the notification issued under Section 4A of the CTN(R) Act and the relevant provisions of TRAI regulation is quite plain and to give them any other meaning on the plea of hardship caused to the LCOs would be doing violence to the plain language of the notification and the regulations.

    LCO counsel Vineet Bhagat had submitted that the scheme of digitisation was a phased scheme and it would be unreasonable and unjust to thrust upon the poor LCOs the digital addressable system of transmission even before the date of its enforcement under the Government notification.

  • TDSAT dismisses LCO petition, asks TRAI why there is only one MSO in Malway in Punjab

    TDSAT dismisses LCO petition, asks TRAI why there is only one MSO in Malway in Punjab

    New Delhi: Even as it dismissed a petition by Malwa Cable Operators seeking cable TV signals, the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to ‘ponder over and address’ why there were no other multisystem operators in the area.

    It said the rejection of the petition by the Malwa Cable Operators Sangarsh Committee seeking signals from Fastway Transmission Pvt. Ltd was ‘not due to any lacuna in the law’.

    “It is because there is no one other than the respondent to whom these LCOs may go for supply of signals. How and why such a situation has arisen is a question for the regulator to ponder over and to address,” chairman Aftab Alam and members Kuldip Singh and B B Srivastava said in their judgment yesterday.

    They said: “On a careful consideration of the submissions made before us, we come to the conclusion that no reliefs can be granted to the petitioner by the Tribunal”.

    Apart from relying on its own previous judgments, the Tribunal noted that the MSO had made clear that it was not supplying signals in analogue mode to any LCO in the State of Punjab and that it was willing to supply signals to the petitioner LCOs “as per its rate card on the basis of which alone it is supplying signals to other LCOs in the state.”

    The Tribunal also took note of an earlier allegation by the LCOs that Fastway had set up a dummy operator which was supplying signals in the area of operation of the petitioner LCOs in analogue mode and on much cheaper rates.

    Referring to arguments raised by lawyers from both sides on the must provide and non-discrimination clauses, the Tribunal said: “In our view, the two principles of ‘must provide’ and ‘on-discrimination’ as the basis of interconnection cannot operate separately but are inseparable. All that those principles mean is that a distributor cannot refuse to supply signals to a LCO and it must supply signals to the LCO seeking signals from it in the same mode and on the same terms and at the same rate at which it might be giving its signals to another LCO, comparable to the one seeking the signals. As long as the distributor does not supply signals to anyone except in DAS mode, the principle of “must provide” cannot be invoked to compel it to supply signals to anyone in analogue mode”.

    Counsel Abhishek Malhotra had during arguments referred to clause 3 of the Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable Services) Interconnection Regulations 2004 and submitted that the scheme of interconnection envisaged by the regulations was based on the twin principles of ‘must provide’ and ‘non-discrimination’. He submitted that as one of the principles of interconnection was ‘must provide’ the respondent was obliged to supply signals to the petitioner LCOs and they would be free to retransmit the signals in their area of operation in analogue mode as that area was yet to come under the DAS regime.

    The Tribunal noted that it was on a consideration of the recommendations made by TRAI that the Central Government issued the notification dated 11 November 2011 (later amended on 11 September 2014) introducing digitisation of cable TV systems in four phases over a period of four and a half years. “As noted above, the language of the notification is such that it would be unlawful to make transmission in analogue mode in any part of the country that has come under the DAS regime as per the schedule given in the notification. But it is not unlawful to make transmission through digital addressable system in any part of the country that is yet to come under the DAS regime”, the Tribunal said.

    Referring to arguments by Fastway counsel Naveen Chawla, the Tribunal said there was nothing to show that Fastway had committed any breach of any regulations or tariff orders framed by TRAI in either making the packages of channels or in fixing the rates of those packages. Moreover, the language of the notification issued under Section 4A of the CTN(R) Act and the relevant provisions of TRAI regulation is quite plain and to give them any other meaning on the plea of hardship caused to the LCOs would be doing violence to the plain language of the notification and the regulations.

    LCO counsel Vineet Bhagat had submitted that the scheme of digitisation was a phased scheme and it would be unreasonable and unjust to thrust upon the poor LCOs the digital addressable system of transmission even before the date of its enforcement under the Government notification.