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Tag: Kal Cables

  • Kal Cables can continue analogue transmission, says Madras High Court

    Kal Cables can continue analogue transmission, says Madras High Court

    NEW DELHI: In a clear set-back to the ministry of information and broadcasting, digitization has once again been pushed back in Tamil Nadu where it had been put on hold from Phase I of Digital Addressable System following a court order.

    Kal Cables, a subsidiary of the Sun TV Network, got a reprieve from going digital following an interim injunction by the Madras High Court against a Central government order directing all multi-system operators (MSOs) to switch to digital mode.

    Kal Cables was allowed to transmit signals using analogue mode by Justice M Duraiswamy after its counsel and senior advocate A R L Sundaresan argued that state-run Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation Ltd had been granted an extension.

    Arasu was granted three months to switch over to the DAS and has since been granted another extension till 17 August 2017.

    All MSOs were supposed to switch to digital transmission by March 31.

    Kal Cables said preferential treatment extended to Arasu by the ministry was arbitrary.

    The matter was put off for further hearing for a week as Additional Solicitor General G. Rajagopalan requested time.

  • Slow pace of court cases, MSO registration may delay DAS deadline

    Slow pace of court cases, MSO registration may delay DAS deadline

    NEW DELHI: Between the analog sunset and a digital morning are court cases and cumbersome and slow MSO registration processes. And, the deadline of 31 December 2016 appears to be becoming a distant possibility despite assertions to the contrary in the stakeholder-government meetings.

    A mere 26 MSOs got provisional registration in November 2016, taking the total to 1,059 and the number of permanent MSOs (with ten-year licences) remaining static at 229.

    With the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) directive about doing away with security clearances for MSOs not being communicated in writing to the MIB, confusion prevails slowing down the registration processes of MSOs for delivering services in DAS areas.

    Junior minister in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) Rajyavardhan Rathore had admitted in response to a question in Parliament recently that legal cases, filed mostly by cable operators relating to some phases of digital rollout, may delay the year-end sunset date for analog services in the country.

    Though MIB officials and regulator TRAI in public insist that final digitisation deadline won’t be extended, in private government officials do admit that in Phase IV areas, comprising approximately 100,000 villages, small towns and hamlets, seeding of STBs is far from the desired level. An MIB official pointed out after the last DAS Task Force Meeting late last month that cash crunch due to demonetisation of high-value currency notes has only added to the problem on the ground slowing down the entire digital rollout process.

    Further impeding STB seeding is the slowing registration of MSOs who’d actually do the work on the ground.

    MIB List of Cancelled Registrations

    Meanwhile, MIB yesterday released a list of 44 MSOs whose registrations have been cancelled or their proposal for licences closed – as against 42 in October and 29 at the end of September 2016.These cancellations exclude four cases – Kal Cables of Chennai, Godfather Communication Pvt. Ltd of Amritsar, Digi Cable Network (India) Pvt Ltd of Mumbai, and Intermedia Cable Communication Pvt. Ltd of Delhi — in which provisional or permanent registrations were issued after high courts stayed the cancellation orders in petitions filed by these MSOs.

    Most of the other cases in the list of cancelled registrations had failed to get security clearance from the MHA. However, there are cases of many MSOs holding provisional licences not completing certain formalities relating to shareholders and so on.

    According to the latest list up to 30 November 2016, the areas of operation of two MSOs (one each in the permanent and provisional lists) have been revised or corrected after 31 October 2016.Of the new licensees, three (UCS Broadband Private Limited of Lucknow, Elxire IT Services Pvt. Ltd of Haryana and Microsense Wireless Pvt. Ltd of Chennai) have got pan-India licences. Maury Diginet Pvt. Ltd of Bihar has got pan-India licence for Phase II, III and IV.

    The other new registrations after October 2016 include state-wide licences or for specific districts in Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telengana, Andhra Pradesh, Manipur, Odisha, Punjab, Delhi and Tripura.In one of the meetings of stakeholders at MIB it was revealed that though there were a reported 6,000 MSOs in the country, but only a handful of them had come forward to register.

    ALSO READ:
    MIB’s digital deadline dilemma: to relax or not

    30 MSOs got provisional licences in Oct, taking total to 1033

     

  • Slow pace of court cases, MSO registration may delay DAS deadline

    Slow pace of court cases, MSO registration may delay DAS deadline

    NEW DELHI: Between the analog sunset and a digital morning are court cases and cumbersome and slow MSO registration processes. And, the deadline of 31 December 2016 appears to be becoming a distant possibility despite assertions to the contrary in the stakeholder-government meetings.

    A mere 26 MSOs got provisional registration in November 2016, taking the total to 1,059 and the number of permanent MSOs (with ten-year licences) remaining static at 229.

    With the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) directive about doing away with security clearances for MSOs not being communicated in writing to the MIB, confusion prevails slowing down the registration processes of MSOs for delivering services in DAS areas.

    Junior minister in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) Rajyavardhan Rathore had admitted in response to a question in Parliament recently that legal cases, filed mostly by cable operators relating to some phases of digital rollout, may delay the year-end sunset date for analog services in the country.

    Though MIB officials and regulator TRAI in public insist that final digitisation deadline won’t be extended, in private government officials do admit that in Phase IV areas, comprising approximately 100,000 villages, small towns and hamlets, seeding of STBs is far from the desired level. An MIB official pointed out after the last DAS Task Force Meeting late last month that cash crunch due to demonetisation of high-value currency notes has only added to the problem on the ground slowing down the entire digital rollout process.

    Further impeding STB seeding is the slowing registration of MSOs who’d actually do the work on the ground.

    MIB List of Cancelled Registrations

    Meanwhile, MIB yesterday released a list of 44 MSOs whose registrations have been cancelled or their proposal for licences closed – as against 42 in October and 29 at the end of September 2016.These cancellations exclude four cases – Kal Cables of Chennai, Godfather Communication Pvt. Ltd of Amritsar, Digi Cable Network (India) Pvt Ltd of Mumbai, and Intermedia Cable Communication Pvt. Ltd of Delhi — in which provisional or permanent registrations were issued after high courts stayed the cancellation orders in petitions filed by these MSOs.

    Most of the other cases in the list of cancelled registrations had failed to get security clearance from the MHA. However, there are cases of many MSOs holding provisional licences not completing certain formalities relating to shareholders and so on.

    According to the latest list up to 30 November 2016, the areas of operation of two MSOs (one each in the permanent and provisional lists) have been revised or corrected after 31 October 2016.Of the new licensees, three (UCS Broadband Private Limited of Lucknow, Elxire IT Services Pvt. Ltd of Haryana and Microsense Wireless Pvt. Ltd of Chennai) have got pan-India licences. Maury Diginet Pvt. Ltd of Bihar has got pan-India licence for Phase II, III and IV.

    The other new registrations after October 2016 include state-wide licences or for specific districts in Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telengana, Andhra Pradesh, Manipur, Odisha, Punjab, Delhi and Tripura.In one of the meetings of stakeholders at MIB it was revealed that though there were a reported 6,000 MSOs in the country, but only a handful of them had come forward to register.

    ALSO READ:
    MIB’s digital deadline dilemma: to relax or not

    30 MSOs got provisional licences in Oct, taking total to 1033

     

  • 30 MSOs got provisional licences in Oct, taking total to 1033

    30 MSOs got provisional licences in Oct, taking total to 1033

    NEW DELHI: With 30 more multi-system operators (MSOs) getting provisional registration in October, the total has risen to 1033 with just around seven weeks to go for switching off analogue signals and completion of digital addressable system for cable television around the country.

    While the total of provisional licences as on 31 October went up from 774 to 804, the number of permanent licences (10 years) remained static at 229.

    The Information and Broadcasting Ministry today released the list of 42 MSOs – as against 29 MSOs at the end of September — licences of which had been cancelled and cases closed. In addition, there are four cases — Godfather Communication Pvt. Ltd of Amritsar, Kal Cables Pvt Ltd of Chennai, Digi Cable Network (India) Pvt Ltd of Mumbai, and Intermedia Cable Communication Pvt. Ltd of Delhi — in which high courts stayed the cancellation orders in petitions filed by these MSOs.

    The number of cancellations or cases closed has gone up by 15 since 2 June this year. Most of the other cases in the list of cancelled registrations had failed to get security clearance from the home ministry. However, there are cases of many MSOs holding provisional licences not completing certain formalities relating to shareholders and so on.

    According to the latest list up to 31 October 2016, the areas of operation of four MSOs (two each in the permanent and provisional list) have been revised or corrected after 30 September 2016. Of the new licencees, two — Enyes Network Communication Private Ltd of Tamil Nadu and Satcom Satellite Network of Mumbai – have got pan-India licences.

    The other new registrations after September 2016 include the states of, or specific districts in, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Punjab.

    With the home ministry directive about doing away with security clearances for MSOs not being communicated in writing to the MIB, the pace remains slow.

    The permanent licence issued to Kal Cable of Chennai had been cancelled on 20 August 2014, but this cancellation was set aside by Madras High Court on 5 September the same year. However, Kal Cable’s name continues to be in the cancelled list – presumably because the cases are still pending.

    In the last meeting of the DAS Task Force, it was revealed that though there were a reported 6000 MSOs in the country but only a handful of them had come forward to register.

    Also read:  MSOs finally cross 1000 as pan-India DAS deadline nears

  • 30 MSOs got provisional licences in Oct, taking total to 1033

    30 MSOs got provisional licences in Oct, taking total to 1033

    NEW DELHI: With 30 more multi-system operators (MSOs) getting provisional registration in October, the total has risen to 1033 with just around seven weeks to go for switching off analogue signals and completion of digital addressable system for cable television around the country.

    While the total of provisional licences as on 31 October went up from 774 to 804, the number of permanent licences (10 years) remained static at 229.

    The Information and Broadcasting Ministry today released the list of 42 MSOs – as against 29 MSOs at the end of September — licences of which had been cancelled and cases closed. In addition, there are four cases — Godfather Communication Pvt. Ltd of Amritsar, Kal Cables Pvt Ltd of Chennai, Digi Cable Network (India) Pvt Ltd of Mumbai, and Intermedia Cable Communication Pvt. Ltd of Delhi — in which high courts stayed the cancellation orders in petitions filed by these MSOs.

    The number of cancellations or cases closed has gone up by 15 since 2 June this year. Most of the other cases in the list of cancelled registrations had failed to get security clearance from the home ministry. However, there are cases of many MSOs holding provisional licences not completing certain formalities relating to shareholders and so on.

    According to the latest list up to 31 October 2016, the areas of operation of four MSOs (two each in the permanent and provisional list) have been revised or corrected after 30 September 2016. Of the new licencees, two — Enyes Network Communication Private Ltd of Tamil Nadu and Satcom Satellite Network of Mumbai – have got pan-India licences.

    The other new registrations after September 2016 include the states of, or specific districts in, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Punjab.

    With the home ministry directive about doing away with security clearances for MSOs not being communicated in writing to the MIB, the pace remains slow.

    The permanent licence issued to Kal Cable of Chennai had been cancelled on 20 August 2014, but this cancellation was set aside by Madras High Court on 5 September the same year. However, Kal Cable’s name continues to be in the cancelled list – presumably because the cases are still pending.

    In the last meeting of the DAS Task Force, it was revealed that though there were a reported 6000 MSOs in the country but only a handful of them had come forward to register.

    Also read:  MSOs finally cross 1000 as pan-India DAS deadline nears

  • MSO clearances finally cross 550 with less than six weeks left for completing Phase III of DAS

    MSO clearances finally cross 550 with less than six weeks left for completing Phase III of DAS

    New Delhi: The number of multi system operators has raced to 553 by 24 November from around 470 early this month, as the government races to prepare to meet the deadline of completing the third phase of digital addressable system.

     

    Of these, 230 have got ten-year licences with three provisional licencees getting permanent licences, and a total of 323 (against 246 early this month) getting provisional licences. One temporary licencee was also given permanent licence till 2024 after its area of operation was changed.

     

    Information and Broadcasting Ministry sources said it had still not received any formal communication of the Home Ministry’s decision to do away with security clearances for MSOs, while some had been given provisional licences pending certain formalities relating to shareholders and so on.

     

    According to the list put on the I and B Ministry’s website today, Kal Cables of Chennai and Digi Cable Network Pvt Ltd of Mumbai remain on the cancellation list. Scod 18 Networking Pvt Ltd of Mumbai has also been refused security clearance while SR Cable TV Pvt Ltd of Bangalore has shut down its business.

     

    Two MSOs which had earlier been granted permanent licences were permitted to change their areas of operation.

      

    The new entrants in the permanent licence list include Waltair Entertainment Pvt. Ltd for Phase II in Vishakapatnam; Den Manoranjan Satellite Pvt. Ltd of Pune for Maharashtra; and Seemanchal Digital Network of Purnea for Bihar.  

  • MSO clearances spurt as DAS Phase III deadline looms; DEN Ambey gets permanent license

    MSO clearances spurt as DAS Phase III deadline looms; DEN Ambey gets permanent license

    NEW DELHI: The panic button appears to have been pressed. With the looming end of year deadline of completion of digital addressable system (DAS) Phase III, the number of multi system operators (MSOs) has jumped to 473 as of 4 November from 429 as on 21 October.

     

    Of these, 227 – one more in the past fortnight – have 10-year licences and a total of 246 (against 203 on 21 October) have obtained provisional licences.

     

    The only new entrant in the permanent licence list, cleared yesterday, is New Delhi’s DEN Ambey Cable Networks, which will provide DAS signals in Uttar Pradesh except Agra, Lucknow, Ghaziabad, Meerut and Varanasi.

     

    Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry sources said it had still not received any formal communication of the Home Ministry’s decision to do away with security clearances for MSOs, while some had been given provisional licences pending certain formalities relating to shareholders and so on.

     

    According to the list put on the I&B Ministry’s website, Kal Cables of Chennai and Digi Cable Network of Mumbai remain on the cancellation list. On the other hand, Mumbai based Scod 18 Networking has also been refused security clearance while Bengaluru’s SR Cable TV has shut down its business.

     

    Twelve MSOs, which had earlier been granted permanent licences were permitted to change their areas of operation.

  • Number of MSOs for DAS areas touches 429 with 200 provisional licensees

    Number of MSOs for DAS areas touches 429 with 200 provisional licensees

    NEW DELHI: Even as two months remain for digital addressable system (DAS) Phase III deadline of 31 December, 2015, a total of 429 multi system operators (MSOs) had obtained licences for DAS as on 21 October.

     

    Of these, 226 MSOs have 10-year licences, whereas 203 have obtained provisional licences since the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry has still not received any formal communication of the Home Ministry’s decision to do away with security clearances for MSOs.

     

    According to the last list issued on 30 September, the Ministry had registered a total of 400 MSOs including 173, which were provisional.

     

    Thus while there has been no increase in the number of permanent (10-year) licence holders, the number of provisional MSOs has gone up to 203.

     

    According to the list put on the I&B Ministry’s website, Kal Cables and Digi Cable Network Pvt Ltd of Mumbai remain on the cancellation list.

     

    Thirteen MSOs, which had earlier been granted permanent licences were permitted to change their areas of operation. 

     

    The only new entrant in the permanent licence holder is Nilgiri Cable TV Private Ltd for the third and fourth phase of DAS in Tamil Nadu.

  • Sun TV may approach Court on issue of security clearance, Centre moves new case against Kal Cables

    Sun TV may approach Court on issue of security clearance, Centre moves new case against Kal Cables

    NEW DELHI: Amid reports that Sun TV Group may be compelled to approach Courts of law following the view of Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi that it should not have been denied security clearance, it is understood that the Home Ministry has again approached the Information and Broadcasting Ministry (I&B) for its viewpoint before giving a final order.

     

    Reacting to this, a Sun TV official told indiantelevision.com, “Our consistent view has been that the TV and radio broadcast business of Sun TV Network Ltd cannot be put in any jeopardy on the ground that the promoter is facing charges in another case. Till such time the case is decided, the cardinal principle of presumed innocent till pronounced guilty shall apply. Any deviation from this time honoured tradition of law will be a violation of natural justice.”

     

    Asked about moving the courts, the spokesperson said: “Considering that our stand has been vindicated by the Attorney General, we hope that all clearances will be restored and we will not be compelled to seek any legal remedies. We wait to hear more from the government authorities.”

     

    Meanwhile the PMO office, reportedly has also decided to stay with the Home Ministries decision to deny security clearance to the 33 channels under Sun TV Network. 

     

    The network has still not received anything in writing from either the I&B nor the Home Ministries. Furthermore, the uncertainty is affecting the position of the Group in the stock market.

     

    Sun TV Network with 33 TV and around 40 radio channels is one of the largest media groups in the country with a reach to more than 95 million households in the country.

     

    Home Ministry officials say their investigation shows serious charges of money laundering against Kalanithi Maran, the owner of Sun TV Network.

     

    Home Ministry officials made it clear that neither the Ministry nor Home Minister Rajnath Singh will directly reply to the letter from Maran.

     

    Rohatgi is of the view that there is a difference between corruption charges and national security as neither the owner nor the Network was a threat to the nation’s security. The opinion was given after the I&B Ministry had sought his opinion on the matter even as the Law Ministry failed to take a decision.

     

    Rohatgi had said that mere filing of criminal charges in economic offences, in which trial courts were yet to frame charges against the accused, could not be a ground to infer that they had posed threat to national security because of the alleged offences. 

     

    It is also learnt that though it had been castigated in September last year for encroaching on the freedom of the media, the I and B Ministry has moved the Madras High Court against quashing of its order cancelling the multi-system operator’s licence. The matter has been listed befor the High Court on 1 July.

     

    Justice V Ramasubramanian of the High Court in September had quashed the cancellation on the ground that no show-cause notice had been issued to the company. 

     

  • Sun TV Network writes to Home Minister to reconsider security clearance

    Sun TV Network writes to Home Minister to reconsider security clearance

    NEW DELHI: Kalanithi Maran owned Sun TV Network Limited (Sun TV) has written to Home Minister Rajnath Singh to reconsider his Ministry’s refusal of security clearance to the network, even as it claims that it has still not received any official note from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

     

    An official of the I&B Ministry had told Indiantelevision.com last week that it was the responsibility of that Ministry and not the Home Ministry to inform Sun TV.

     

    A Sun TV spokesperson said that any action that the network may want to take would be based on the text of the communication from the I&B Ministry.

     

    The Home Ministry is said to have taken this decision in the backdrop of the three pending criminal cases being looked into by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), against Maran and his brother and former Union Minister Dayanidhi Maran.

     

    Home Ministry sources denied that the decision was based on political considerations.

     

    The network has urged the Home Minister to differentiate between security clearance on grounds of national security and cases linked to financial matters, which are still pending and not proven. It has also raised issues relating to freedom of the media.

     

    Even as the stock market had showed an increase for Sun TV shares late last week when reports appeared about the Home Ministry agreeing to reconsider its decision following a letter by I&B Minister Arun Jaitley, it is learnt that senior officials of the Home Ministry have so far failed to fix a meeting with officials of the Law Ministry in this regard.

     

    It was learnt that some Home Ministry officials were planning to discuss the issue with the Law Ministry and some legal experts and some junior officials had in fact held informal discussions.

     

    It is expected that Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi may be consulted on the issue.   

     

    The I&B official had also confirmed that this will affect all 33 television channels of the Network. This may mean cancellation of the broadcasting license. However, the Ministry official said that no decision would be taken in haste.

     

    Sun TV had applied to the I&B for renewing its broadcasting license for 10 years, which also entails getting the required security clearance from the Home Ministry.

      

    Earlier, in April, Jaitley had written to Rajnath Singh to reconsider the denial of security clearance to 40 FM radio stations run by the Sun Network.

     

    Observers in Chennai said the Madras High Court order in September last year commented adversely against the I&B Ministry for cancelling the multi system operator (MSO) license to Sun TV Network’s subsidiary Kal Cables. The observation had come in a case relating to denial of security clearance as the Maran brothers were facing criminal cases.