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Tag: Kunal Tandon

  • TDSAT directs Canara Star to settle disputes with Star India

    TDSAT directs Canara Star to settle disputes with Star India

    NEW DELHI: Bangalore’s Canara Star has been asked by the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) to intimate Star India whether it admits the SMS reports submitted by the broadcaster for the period 2014 to January 2015.

     

    The common order by the Tribunal on three petitions including one by Star India against Canara Star claiming recovery dues of about Rs 3 crore pertaining to the MSO’s operations in Digital Addressable System (DAS) area of Bangalore said this was subject to the two parties failing to arrive at a final settlement.

     

    Listing the matter for 14 January, 2016 the Tribunal also asked Canara to produce its bank statements and materials to show payments made by it towards invoices raised by Star India based on Canara’s SMS reports.

     

    Canara, which has allegedly sold off its business to another MSO called All Digital, will produce its deed of transfer of establishment to All Digital, which was made a party in the petition filed by Star India.

     

    The other two petitions are by Canara Star challenging disconnection notices issues by Star India for analogue areas of Kumta and Bhatkal.

     

    Star India counsels Kunal Tandon and Arjun Natarajan produced the SMS reports on the basis of which it had billed Canara Star.

     

    Star India argued that Canara cannot withhold payments to it for invoices, which were raised by the broadcaster on the basis of Canara Star’s SMS reports.

     

    Canara Star’s counsel Jayant Mehta asked for one final opportunity to settle the disputes.

     

    All the three matters had been before the mediator from early August till mid November but no settlement could be arrived at.

  • TDSAT warns Den Network against piracy of Star channels

    TDSAT warns Den Network against piracy of Star channels

    NEW DELHI: The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has cautioned and warned Den Network to desist from activities like piracy and transmitting any channels of Star available to it on a la carte basis on any of its channels available in any bouquets.

     

    As per Star, it telecast the Salman Khan starrer film Bajrangi Bhaijaan on one of its channels, Star Gold which is available to Den’s network only on a la carte basis. In order to circumvent the a la carte restriction, Den unauthorisedly transmitted the movie on one of its local channels called Den Cinema, which was available to its entire subscriber base.

     

    TDSAT chairman Justice Aftab Alam and members Kuldip Singh and B B Srivastava said, “Prima facie it appears to us that Den is indulging in practices that are not only not sanctioned by law but which in fact may constitute criminal offence.”

     

    It further clarified that in case Den is “violated the warning it would do so at its risk as to costs and consequences. It is further made clear that Star, if so advised, may file claim for damages against Den for allegedly having indulged in piracy of its signals.” 

     

    The Tribunal noted that in the petition filed by Den, Star had even earlier alleged similar piracy and that matter had been posted for 3 November as Den counsel Abhay Chattopadhyay sought time to get instructions. 

     

    The Tribunal hoped that by the next date, Chattopadhyay may file Den’s reply to the two applications. 

     

    In the present application, Star counsel Kunal Tandon alleged that Den was “indulging in rampant piracy of some of the Star channels.” Both the earlier application and the present application are supported by screen shots and CDs.

  • TRAI directed not to implement ad cap for music channels

    TRAI directed not to implement ad cap for music channels

    NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was today directed not to take any coercive action against four music television channels with regards to ad cap.

    Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) member Kuldip Singh after hearing counsel Kunal Tandon directed the matter to come up for further hearing on 21 October.

    The petitions were filed on behalf of Mastiii (owned by TV Vision, Mumbai), B4U, 9X Media, M Tunes HD and Music Xpress.

    Earlier, TDSAT had accepted a similar petition by the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) which challenged the constitutional validity of the regulations of TRAI enforcing the ad cap. That petition has been listed for hearing on 11 November.

    The Tribunal said while the channels will maintain weekly records of the advertising time per hour on a weekly basis, they will not be required to submit this to the regulator. Unlike the current practice, the records will only be submitted to TDSAT at the time of the hearing of the case.

    At that time, Counsel A J Bhambani for the NBA had said that a delegation of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) had submitted a formula to the regulator but that did not preclude the broadcasters from challenging the validity of the regulations.

    He also said that this was only a compromise reached between the broadcasters and the regulator and could not form the basis of penal action since it was not a regulation or legal provision.