ITV

Tag: DAS licence

  • TDSAT questions MIB over DAS licence denial to Tamil Nadu’s Arasu Cable

    TDSAT questions MIB over DAS licence denial to Tamil Nadu’s Arasu Cable

    NEW DELHI: The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Arbitration Tribunal (TDSAT), on 14 August, asked the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) to file an affidavit in a matter where the root issue is about the denial of digital addressable system (DAS) licence to Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation (TACTV).

     

    While the MIB had presented a note through a section officer, TDSAT refused to accept it and wanted the ministry to file a proper affidavit.

     

    Listing the matter for 2 September, TDSAT also said that Star India, respondent in the case filed by cable operator Thamizhaga Cable TV Communication, New Delhi, was free to negotiate with Arasu and other multi-system operators (MSOs) for areas in Chennai for DAS and outside Chennai for analogue transmission.

     

    At the same time, it said that there would be no disconnection of signals until the next date.

     

    TDSAT also directed that the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) should be impleaded as a party since other broadcasters were also giving signals to Arasu for Chennai though it did not have the DAS licence. Option was also given to other broadcasters if they wanted to be impleaded.

     

    During the hearing earlier this week, TDSAT chairman Aftab Alam and members Kuldip SIngh and B B Srivastava wondered why the Central Government had failed to take a decision on giving DAS licence to Arasu. It had therefore directed that the Ministry be impleaded in the case.

     

    At the same time, it had held that Arasu (TACTV) was guilty of transmitting television signals in Chennai, which had adopted DAS in the first phase – in analogue mode, and at the same time guilty of using Star signals in the metropolis without any authorisation inter-connect agreement with Star India.

     

    The Tribunal was told by TACTV that it had applied for a DAS licence as far back as July 2012 but the government had failed to take a decision despite an order of the Madras High Court in December 2013 asking the Centre to take a decision on the application of TACTV for grant of it’s license “in the soonest possible time.”  

     

    Noting that there is no compliance with the direction of the Court even after more than a year and half, the Tribunal felt it was imperative to know the stand of the Government for a proper adjudication of the matter.

     

    The Tribunal did not accept the argument by TACTV in the last hearing that it had negotiated with Star India for the entire state since the Letter of Intent (LOI) was only for the rest of Tamil Nadu barring Chennai.

  • 150 MSOs get 10 year licence under DAS; 27 denied permission

    150 MSOs get 10 year licence under DAS; 27 denied permission

    NEW DELHI: Another 11 multi-system operators (MSOs) all over the country have been granted permanent registration for 10 years to operate the digital addressable system (DAS) during the last two months, thus bringing the total to 153 as compared to 142 by December-end.

     

    Most of these MSOs had been given provisional permission earlier.    

       

    The MSOs who have received permission as on 5 March after the last list released of 7 January are:

     

    – Cossco Communications Limited of Shyamnagar for West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Sikkim, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura under Phase – I, II, III & IV;

     

    – Netset Media Services of Jamnagar for the state of Gujarat; Satlinks of Pallakad for the state of Kerala; 

     

    – Vishwam Cable Network of Porbandar and Suraj Cable Network of Rajkot for Phase II, III and IV in Gujarat; 

     

    – Kaizen Digital Services for Karnataka in Phase – II, III and IV except Mysore city; 

     

    – Utkal Cable Vision of Orissa for the third and fourth phases pan India; 

     

    – SS Cable Network of Balaghat for Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra,Odhisha & Jharkhand under Phase – I,II,III & IV; 

     

    – Chelikam Networks of Tirupati for Phase III & Phase IV of Chittur, Kadapa, Ananthpur and Nellore Districts of Andhra Pradesh; 

     

    – DDC CATV Network of Delhi for pan India in all phases; and

     

    – Mohit Sai Cable Network of Vizayanagram for Vishakapatanam, Vizayanagaram and Srikakulam District in III and IV phase in the state of Andhra Pradesh.  

     

    The list of MSOs, who have been refused permission as on 28 February, has gone up to 27 from 26 with one more MSO being denied permission. Some of those in the cancelled list applied as early as March 2013.

     

    MSO sources, however, said that the approved list was in addition to the 140 whose names had been approved earlier in March last year.

     

    The Ministry website mib.nic.in has listed the areas and the date from which the MSOs have been given permission.

     

  • Tamil Nadu local cable ops refuse to pay more to Arasu

    Tamil Nadu local cable ops refuse to pay more to Arasu

    MUMBAI: Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa has been constantly requesting the centre to approve the DAS licence for her state owned multi system operator (MSO) Arasu Cable. However, due to TRAI regulations, it is stuck with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB).

     

    Recently, the MSO sent out a letter to its local cable operators (LCOs) demanding more money from them on the premise that LCOs have been under declaring their subscriber base. At a meeting held earlier this week in Chennai, three LCO association bodies met and informed the cable ops to be wary of this demand.

     

    Speaking to indiantelevision.com, Chennai Metro Cable Operators Association general secretary MR Srinivasan says, “Firstly Arasu doesn’t have a licence and yet it is operating. The MIB needs to decide whether or not it wants to give it a licence. Because of this, we aren’t able to enter into any business agreements with them even though TRAI has said that there should be a valid contract between the MSO and the LCO.”

     

    Arasu has asked its cable operators to have a fixed subscription fee of Rs 70. While keeping the subscription fee intact, Arasu has asked the LCOs that were so far paying Rs 20 per subscriber to it, to increase it to Rs 30 per subscriber. The extra Rs 10, according to Arasu is for maintenance.

     

    Srinivasan says that though the LCOs want to enter into formal agreements, the fact that Arasu is devoid of a DAS licence is keeping them at bay.

  • Jayalalitha again seeks DAS licence for state-run Arasu

    Jayalalitha again seeks DAS licence for state-run Arasu

    NEW DELHI: After she failed to convince him through a memorandum presented last month, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has now written to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene to secure Digital Addressable System (DAS) licence for the state run TV Cable Corporation.

     

    The application has been pending with the state for three years but has not been cleared in view of the opinion by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) that political party, state and centre-run TV channels or TV distribution networks should not be permitted in the country.

     

    The Regulator had given this opinion in 2008 and then reiterated it earlier this year after the Information and Broadcasting Ministry referred the matter to it for a second time.

     

     In her letter to Modi, Jayalalithaa said the previous United Progressive Alliance regime sanctioned licenses to nine Multi System Operators in Tamil Nadu but did not respond to the state’s plea. She claimed that her government had revived the ‘defunct’ Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation (TACTV), a state run TV Cable Corporation, after coming to power in 2011 to adhere to its commitment to provide inexpensive and quality Cable TV services.

     

    TACTV, an initiative of the previous DMK government at the height of family feud in the party’s first family involving M Karunanidhi and his grandnephews, Maran brothers, was however later put in cold storage after they patched up.

     

    TACTV was providing 100 channels for Rs 70 as against the Rs 150-250 charged by some other MSOs, she said in the letter. After the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 was amended, paving way for DAS, TACTV took steps to commence operations in the digital mode in Chennai and applied to the Ministry for DAS license.

     

    Orders were also placed for the supply of Set Top Boxes, Conditional Access System and Subscriber Management System and installing of a headend at a cost of about Rs 50 crore, she told Modi.

     

    Jayalalithaa in her letter has asserted that as per the provisions of the Cable TV Network (Regulations) Act, 1995, and Rules thereof, TACTV is qualified for such a licence. She also alleged that she strongly suspects that the non-issuance of license by the previous UPA government was only to facilitate particular private business interests. 

  • Karunanidhi defends denial of licence to Arasu

    Karunanidhi defends denial of licence to Arasu

    MUMBAI: DMK chief M Karunanidhi has come out in support of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for not giving Digital Addressable System (DAS) licence to the Tamil Nadu government-owned Arasu Cable TV Corporation.

    Karunanidhi, who had set up Arasu Cable TV Corporation during his reign as chief minister, said the UPA government was going by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India‘s (Trai) recommendation that prevents government or government-owned entities from entering the television broadcasting or distribution business.

    “The Centre can decide on issuing DAS Licence only based on the recommendations of Trai guidelines. Trai had recommended that Centre and state governments should not involve in cable TV broadcasting,” he said in an interview to party mouthpiece ‘Murasoli‘.

    He also expressed disdain at Jayalalithaa‘s accusation that the government was deliberately not issuing licence to Arasu in order to benefit his family.

    The DMK chief also said it was not proper on her part to make such remarks at the National Development Council meeting.

    Jayalalithaa had at the National Development Council (NDC) meeting recently lambasted the government for deliberately holding licence in order to a ‘political‘ family in a veiled reference to Karunanidhi and his family.

    Arasu is yet to receive a DAS licence to operate in Chennai despite repeated plea by the state government and AIADMK MP‘s, who taken the issue to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as well. Arasu had applied for a DAS licence in July.

    Karunanidhi and his family hold considerable interest in television and distribution business in Tamil Nadu. While Karunanidhi‘s family owns Kalaignar TV, his grand nephew Kalanithi Maran owns the Sun Group, which has interests in television, print, radio, DTH and cable distribution.

    Pertinently, Trai had on 28 December reiterated its November 2008 recommendation that central and state governments or entities owned by them should not be allowed to be in broadcasting and television channel distribution businesses.

    The regulator had submitted its recommendations to the Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry on “Issues related to entry of government or government entities into the business of broadcasting and/or distribution of TV channels”.

    It also reiterated its view that the government should provide an appropriate exit route to government or government-owned companies which have already been accorded permission to carry on the business of television channel distribution.

    The recommendations are expected to impact Arasu, which had received licence in 2007 to operate in Tamil Nadu.