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Tag: High Court

  • Karnataka LCOs approach High Court to seek stay of DAS Phase III

    Karnataka LCOs approach High Court to seek stay of DAS Phase III

    NEW DELHI: Having a ripple effect of sorts after Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, Maharashtra, Odhisa and Guwahati, now it looks like Karnataka is all set to follow suit to get a court extension on the Digital Addressable System (DAS) Phase III deadline.

     

    On 8 January, the Karnataka High Court is all set to hear a petition filed by the Karnataka Cable TV Operators Association for a stay on implementation of Phase III in view of the low seeding of set top boxes (STBs), problems with interconnect agreements and other issues.

     

    As was reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, the High Courts have already given extensions for various periods in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Maharashtra, Orissa, Sikkim, and Telangana, apart from Tamil Nadu where prolonged legal cases have been pending since Phase I.

     

    Meanwhile, senior officials in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry today met legal experts to consider options before it to counter these orders even as sources in the Ministry told this website that the orders given so far will be implemented until a counter action is found.

     

    One of the option before the Government is to ask the Supreme Court to bar any challenge to Phase III in various High Courts as this is a policy issue and the apex court had itself ruled earlier that it would not interfere in matters of policy. The second option is to oppose each case in the respective High Court, which is being done.

     

    While insisting that there will be no extension of the switch off of analogue signals beyond 31 December, 2015, the Ministry is also making a more realistic assessment of the seeding of STBs.

     

    Meanwhile, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is awaiting counter suggestions before it comes out with a model interconnect agreement by mid-January.

  • MIB denies sale of TV Today’s radio biz to ENIL

    MIB denies sale of TV Today’s radio biz to ENIL

    MUMBAI: The wait for TV Today Network, which has been looking at selling its radio FM business to Entertainment Network (India) Limited (ENIL) is finally over, but not with the result that the network was expecting.

     

    In a recent development, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has declined its approval to TV Today Network to sell its radio FM business – Oye FM – to ENIL. The approval has been denied on the grounds that the proposed sale did not conform with the FM Radio Guidelines.

     

    TV Today today said that the “application made to Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), Government of India seeking its approval regarding the sale of Radio FM Business [Seven Radio Stations] to Entertainment Network (India) Limited, MIB by their order dated 1 May, 2015, received on 8 May, 2015, has declined its approval on the grounds that the proposal sale is not in conformity with the FM Radio Guidelines.”

     

    However, the company has reserved its right to seek appropriate legal remedy, as and when required.

     

    Further, a committee meeting of senior officials was held on 8 May to take note of the said order. “Keeping in view the said order, the committee has considered and approved the amendment letter to the Non binding Memorandum of Understanding to be signed between the Company and Entertainment Network (India) Limited,” a statement from the company read.

     

    It can be recalled that earlier in April, TV Today had approached the High Court with regards to the delay in MIB’s approval to sell the company’s FM radio business to ENIL.

     

    The network had then said, “In relation to the proposed sale of seven radio stations to Entertainment Network (India) Limited, since time is of essence and with approval of the MIB getting delayed, hence in order to expedite the matter, an urgent writ petition in the High Court is listed for hearing, to seek necessary relief.”

  • TV Today Network approaches High Court for speedy decision on Oye FM

    TV Today Network approaches High Court for speedy decision on Oye FM

    MUMBAI: TV Today Network Ltd informed the BSE that it has approached the High Court with regards to the delay by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s (MIB) approval to sell the company’s FM radio business-Oye FM (seven radio stations) to Entertainment Network (India) Limited (ENIL).

     

    According to the note published on BSE, TV Today Network Ltd stated that the Board noted “that in relation to the proposed sale of seven radio stations to Entertainment Network (India) Limited, since time is of essence and with approval of the MIB getting delayed, hence in order to expedite the matter, an urgent writ petition in the High Court is listed for hearing, to seek necessary relief.”

     

    TV Today CEO Ashish Bagga, refused to comment on this decision taken by the company.

     

    The application was filed by the company to MIB on 16 February, 2015.

     

    Click here to read full report

  • ‘India’s Daughter’ ban extended till 15 April, HC seeks MIB advisory

    ‘India’s Daughter’ ban extended till 15 April, HC seeks MIB advisory

    NEW DELHI: The ban on the telecast of the controversial BBC documentary India’s Daughter by Leslee Udwin about the 16 December, 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape will continue till 15 April, though the film continues to be available on the Internet.

     

    The Delhi High Court today (18 March) asked the central government to place before the court the advisory issued by it on 3 March prohibiting exhibition of the documentary.

     

    A division bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice R.S. Endlaw posted for 15 April the two public interest litigations (PILs) before it for revocation of the ban on the documentary’s telecast.

     

    A different bench had yesterday declined to immediately revoke the ban on the telecast of the documentary. It said it has “no problem” about airing the documentary but the case (appeals of the convicts against death sentence) was pending before the Supreme Court. 

     

    It also observed that media trials tend to influence judges by subconsciously creating pressure.

     

    The documentary is about the gang rape of a 23-year-old trainee physiotherapist, who was brutally assaulted in a moving bus in Delhi. The film kicked up a storm after one of the convicts Mukesh Singh justified the action. 

     

    The documentary also has comments from the convicts’ counsel A.P. Singh and M.L. Sharma, who allegedly made derogatory remarks against women and who have alreadybeen issued notices by the Bar Council of India.

     

    The PILs said that the ban on the documentary was in clear violation of fundamental rights under Article 19 of the constitution.

     

    They sought direction to declare as illegal the act of banning the documentary by the Home and Information and Broadcasting Ministries, and the Delhi Police commissioner.

     

    The Centre on 3 March issued an advisory to ban the broadcast of the documentary and the trial court had banned it on 4 March until further orders.

     

    The pleas also sought direction for the Supreme Court registry to constitute a three-judge special bench to hear the appeals of the four death row convicts, pending since 25 August, 2014.

     

    The Supreme Court, in July, put on hold the execution of the four convicts in the case. Going by the chatter on social media, the public at large wanted to see the documentary, as within a day of it being put up on YouTube, it was viewed by more 2.86 lakh people, the pleas said.

     

  • MSOs write to Govt. on WC telecast issue as Prasar Bharati gets ready to file appeal in SC

    MSOs write to Govt. on WC telecast issue as Prasar Bharati gets ready to file appeal in SC

    NEW DELHI: Even as Prasar Bharati sources confirmed that instructions had been issued to their legal representatives to file an appeal in the Supreme Court, multi-system operators (MSOs) have urged Information and Broadcasting Ministry secretary Bimal Julka that the Delhi High Court order relating to the World Cup telecast will have ‘grave consequences with millions of Cable TV homes in the country being forced to subscribe to the ESPN Star Sports channels.’

                                                                                         

    In a letter sent to Julka with copies to I&B Minister Arun Jaitley and officials of Prasar Bharati and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Vikki Choudhary on behalf of the smaller MSOs and LCOs said, “The move will force cable TV customers to subscribe to all the Star Sports channels even under the Digital Access System (DAS) regime.”

     

    Describing the judgment as a ‘big shock’, Choudhary of Home Cable in his letter to the Ministry has described the court order as ‘vague’ on the re-transmission of Doordarshan feed of the Cricket World Cup 2015 matches. “We are under a mandatory ‘must carry’ clause of the DD Channels on our DAS cable distribution platform,” the letter read.  

     

    DD legal experts have on the other hand said that an appeal would be filed in the Supreme Court since the directive of the High Court militates against the must-carry clause and the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act 2007. Several multi-system operators in the capital also confirmed to indiantelevision.com that they were planning to either file an independent appeal or intervene in the appeal to be filed by Doordarshan or Prasar Bharati.

     

    A bench of Justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva passed the order on 4 February on the plea of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), ESPN and Star who had contended that cable TV operators were getting live feeds through DD channels free of cost, resulting in loss of revenue for them.

  • NDTV’s media disclaimer on case with Quantum Securities

    NDTV’s media disclaimer on case with Quantum Securities

    NEW DELHI: The New Delhi Television has asked the media not to publish any defamatory advertisement or publication of any nature whatsoever etc by Quantum Securities Private Limited or its directors/associates in connection with and/or pertaining to and/or relating to NDTV, its senior officials and promoters in a contempt application filed by the channel in Bombay High Court in a case pending in that Court.

     

    The case against Sanjay Dutt, Quantum Securities Private Limited and its directors Om Prakash Arora, Neraaj Dewan and Sandeep Dutt was filed last year.

     

    The directive was sent to the media by NDTV advocates Amarchand and Mangaldas and Suresh A Shroff and Co.

     

    While issuing notice to Quantum as to why action under the provisions of the Contempt of Courts Act shall not be initiated against respondents for committing violation of the orders dated 6 August 2013 and 26 February 2014, the Court in an interim order restrained Quantum or its directors from issuing any advertisements, defamatory letters, notices, e-mails, or any publication whatsoever relating to the case.

     

    The matter has been fixed for 8 December.

     

    The judge said his attention had been drawn to the advertisement given by the respondents in the national daily newspaper ‘The Economic Times’ in New Delhi in Edition dated 30 October 2014 alleging that the NDTV had not disclosed facts and events in the presentation and also on NDTV website.

     

    It is stated that the Department of Income Tax, Government of India vide its final assessment order dated 21 February 2014 for AY 2009-2010 raised fresh demand of Rs 450 crore which has not been disclosed  which was required to be disclosed. NDTV said this was defamatory.

     

    The matter relates to an alleged Memorandum of Understanding of September 2006 and an agreement dated 1 July 2007 (as stated by NDTV senior counsel R M Kadam in court) executed between NDTV and Sanjay Dutt and Sanjay Jain whereby NDTV engaged services for providing strategic and financial advisory services; corporate finance; investment management and strategic consultancy. It is alleged by NDTV that under this agreement an amount of Rs 2,60,00,000 was paid by the Plaintiff to Dutt and Jain.

     

  • Pressure of work before HC leads to adjournment of ad cap hearing to 21 January

    Pressure of work before HC leads to adjournment of ad cap hearing to 21 January

    NEW DELHI: The ad cap case has been adjourned yet again – this time to 21 January – in view of a large number of pending cases before the High Court.

     
    During the last hearing on 25 September, News Broadcasters Association counsel Nisha Bhambani had sought adjournment in view of the senior counsel S Ganesh not being in Delhi.

     
    Earlier on 15 July, the Court had adjourned the case as the final hearing of the bunch of petitions challenging the ad cap sort to be imposed by TRAI as the authority had not finalised its rejoinder.

     
    The case had been previously heard in the High Court on 17 December last year and 13 March this year.

     
    While TRAI had earlier given an assurance that it would not take any action against any channel pending the petition, the Court had at the regulator’s instance directed that all channels keep a record of the advertisements run by them.

     
    The NBA had challenged the ad cap rule, contending that TRAI does not have jurisdiction to regulate commercial airtime on television channels.

     
    Apart from the NBA, the petition have been filed by Sarthak Entertainment, Pioneer Channel Factory, E24 Glamoru, Sun TV Network, TV Vision, B4U Broadband, 9X Media, Kalaignar, Celebrities Management, Eanadu Television and Raj Television.

     
    The news and regional broadcasters fear that the capping of commercial airtime will curtail their ad revenues. They also argue that the ad cap must be brought only after the benefits of cable TV digitisation start kicking in.

     
    Earlier this year, the Court also granted interim relief to Hyderabad-based MAA Television Network against the ad cap regulation. However, the court had also observed that the cap on advertisements is a ‘reasonable exercise’.

     
    Four major broadcast networks—Star India, Zee Entertainment, Multi Screen Media and TV18 Group—are following the regulations.

     

  • NBA condemns assault on mediapersons in Hissar, wants action against policemen

    NBA condemns assault on mediapersons in Hissar, wants action against policemen

    NEW DELHI: The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) vehemently condemned the brutal assault by policemen on journalists and cameramen who were covering the police action outside the ashram of self-styled godman Baba Rampal in Hissar, Haryana on 18 November.

     

    In a press statement today, NBA president Rajat Sharma said: “This was a frontal attack on the freedom of the press. The whole nation was watching on television as policemen in ‘khaki’ were openly beating up journalists and cameramen who were merely doing their job of reporting. Policemen in uniform deliberately damaged expensive TV cameras and cellphones belonging to news channels and reporters, in full view of their senior officials.”

     
    The NBA president has urged the Chief Minister of Haryana to ensure that action be taken immediately against the men in uniform who ordered and carried out the unprovoked attacks on journalists and cameramen.  

     

    “The NBA clearly wishes to put it on record that such a naked show of unbridled ‘khaki’ power is unacceptable under any canon of democracy. The powers-that-be must understand that the journalists were only carrying out their lawful duty of disseminating information to the people even as events were unfolding right in front of their eyes.

     

    “For over two weeks now, the nation has been watching the spectacle of a state police looking completely helpless in arresting a self-styled godman hidden by his goons in his ashram and producing him before the Hon’ble High Court. On the contrary, the police today unleashed its power on helpless journalists doing their lawful duty.

     

    “The NBA considers this attack a blot on the face of democracy, and an assault on the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression as enshrined in the Constitution,” Sharma said.

     

    “The Chief Minister must take exemplary action against the culprits to ensure that such shameful incidents are not repeated in future,” added Sharma.

     

    Meanwhile, the Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) also strongly condemned the beating up of journalists and camerapersons who were covering the clashes between the police and supporters of controversial godman Rampal.

     

    It said it had been reported that while some journalists have been injured, camera and equipment of photo journalists have been damaged or broken. Even DGP S N Vashisht, confronted with evidence, had to concede a journalist was beaten up and that he will investigate the matter.

     

    The DUJ calls for the institution of a high level enquiry to probe the beatings of journalists. While demanding immediate compensation for those who have suffered injuries and damage to their equipment, the DUJ reiterates its demand that a compensation and insurance cover be put in place for media persons who while covering such conflicts have to face various hazardous tasks.

     

    The DUJ would also like to state that no one is above the law. The use of women and children as protective shields and exposing them to grave risks is highly condemnable and cannot be tolerated.

     

     

  • Ad cap case adjourned till 15 July

    Ad cap case adjourned till 15 July

    Updated: 05:04 pm

     

    NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court today adjourned to 15 July the final hearing of a bunch of petitions challenging the ad cap sort to be imposed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), even as it said the regulator will not take any coercive action under the ad-cap regulations.
     

    The adjournment by Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw was allowed after counsel Neeraj Krishna Kaul representing the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) sought more time to file a rejoinder.

     

    The bar on coercive action by TRAI had been given in an earlier hearing and remains in force. However, the Court had said the petitioners have to submit a weekly report on the consumption of commercial airtime in a clock hour.

     

    TRAI Counsel Saket Singh opposed the adjournment noting that the matter had come up earlier before the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) but has been transferred to the High Court after the Supreme Court ruled that TRAI regulations could not be adjudicated upon by the Tribunal.

     

    He said a lot of time had been, and in any case the Cable TV Networks (Regulations) Rules of 1994 were clear about the ad cap and TRAI had only sought to implement that.
     
    However, Kaul argued that the case involved important constitutional issues as they were cases where the freedom of the press and freedom of speech and expression are involved and the case cannot be decided without having all facts on record.
     
    Earlier in the hearing on 13 March, TRAI sought early hearing in the case on the ground that it had filed its affidavit and the court gave time to NBA to file its rejoinder.

     

    The NBA had challenged the ad cap rule, contending that TRAI does not have jurisdiction to regulate commercial airtime on television channels.

     

    Apart from the NBA, the petition have been filed by Sarthak Entertainment, Pioneer Channel Factory, E24 Glamoru, Sun TV Network, TV Vision, B4U Broadband, 9X Media, Kalaignar, Celebrities Management, Eanadu Television and Raj Television.

     

    The news and regional broadcasters fear that the capping of commercial airtime will curtail their ad revenues. They also argue that the ad cap must be brought only after the benefits of cable TV digitisation start kicking in.

     

    Earlier, the Court had also granted interim relief to Hyderabad-based MAA Television Network against the ad cap regulation. However, the court had also observed that the cap on advertisements is a ‘reasonable exercise’.

     

    The broadcasters had on 17 December challenged the ad cap rule in the Court after TDSAT had dismissed their appeal in the wake of the apex Court judgment that the tribunal does not have jurisdiction over TRAI regulations.

     

    Four major broadcast networks—Star India, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, Multi Screen Media and TV18 Group—are following the regulation. 

  • Why the NBA joined the respondents battling Kantar in the courts

    Why the NBA joined the respondents battling Kantar in the courts

    MUMBAI: When Kantar Market Research Services, a shareholder of TAM media research, decided to go to court to legally oppose one of the guidelines that had been recently approved by the cabinet committee on economic affairs, it raised some eyebrows though the move was not unexpected. And even though Kantar was not given a stay  on the legality of the cross holding  legislation that it has been seeking, what came as a surprise on day two of the hearing was when the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) was made a party to the case.

     

    What made the biggest news broadcasting representative body in the country decide to intervene in the case and be subsequently made a part of it? Contrary to what many may believe, the NBA is not against Kantar but rather it is in favour of the guidelines. “We went as interveners to show our support to the approved guidelines and the court decided that we should be a part of it,” says a senior official from the NBA.

     

    The news organisation has always been vocal on the alleged  irregularities and kinks in TAM’s rating system. “We had decided a while ago that we would make a mention of our support in court. Change in the way the ratings are delivered has been pending for several years and finally the moment of truth has arrived  and so we don’t need it to be stalled again,” informed the official.

     

    In mid-2013, several news channels members of the NBA had decided to boycott TAM claiming that its TV ratings data was rigged. Voices in support of the upcoming agency the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) grew overwhelmingly. The NBA now feels that there could be no better time than now for the guidelines to come into effect.

     

    The case which is ongoing in the Delhi High Court is now being fought by the petitioner Kantar  against the government of India, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the NBA. In media interviews Kantar has stated that it won’t go down so easily and that the cross holding guideline it has challenged will make its life and existence a misery.

     

    In the hearing on 29 January, the HC decided not to give a stay order to Kantar since the regulation was promulgated  by a statutory body – the TRAI. On the same day, the NBA pointed out that TAM operates on a small sample size of just 8,000 people. The case will next be heard on 11 February.

     

    All the three respondents have a week’s time to file their respective affidavits to the court.

     

    In October last year when the ad cap case was ongoing in the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), three broadcasters namely Star, Zee and Viacom18 had tried to become  interveners in support of the 12 minute ad cap regulation but they had been barred from doing so since their representative body – the Indian Broadcasting Foundation – had decided to withdraw the appeal against the ad cap. However, the NBA claims it has consistently been vocal about its views on TV viewership ratings, hence its candidature as an intervener has validity.

     

    The key questions now are whether the HC will offer a lifeline to TAM  by imposing a stay on implementation of the cross holding guideline or whether will it cut off its oxygen supply?