ITV

Tag: Mukul Rohatgi

  • 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. 

     

  • Attorney General okays Sun TV security clearance; stock up 8%

    Attorney General okays Sun TV security clearance; stock up 8%

    MUMBAI: Kalanithi Maran can breathe a sigh of relief, at least for now. This after the Attorney General of India Mukul Rohatgi has asked the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry to give security clearance to the 33 channels of Sun TV Network.

     

    After the I&B Ministry sought his opinion on the matter, Rohatgi said that denial of security clearance to Sun TV by MHA was wrong.

     

    It can be noted that the Home Ministry had denied the proposal to grant security clearance to the network on grounds that its promoter – Kalanithi Maran – was being investigated for criminal cases by the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

     

    As is known, the CBI had alleged Dayanidhi Maran of misusing his office as Union Telecom Minister to engineer the sale of Aircel to Malaysia’s Maxis Group in 2006. Maran was accused of corruption and illegal gratification worth more than Rs 700 crore, which allegedly was invested in a media company that is part of the Sun Group, owned by Dayanidhi Maran’s brother Kalanithi Maran.

     

    It can be noted that in April, the ED had issued an order to both the Maran brothers to attach properties and assets worth Rs 742.58 crore belonging to them.

     

    Kalanithi Maran in his argument had said that while most TV companies have criminal cases pending against them or against their directors or promoters, only his company was singled out and security clearance refused.

     

    Earlier this week the MHA had said that it had no plans to reply to the letter written by Maran where he had said that his company was never involved in any anti-national or criminal activity and that there was no justification for refusal of the clearance to his television channels.

     

    Buoyed by the reports of this development, the Sun TV stock on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) shot up by 7.86 per cent at the end of the day’s trade on Friday. The stock, which opened at Rs 309.25 touched an intra-day high of Rs 342.30 and closed at Rs 333.55 at the end of the day’s trade.

  • 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.

  • Star Sports incurs Rs 290 crore annual loss by sharing signals with DD; SC reserves order

    Star Sports incurs Rs 290 crore annual loss by sharing signals with DD; SC reserves order

    NEW DELHI: Prasar Bharati today categorically ruled out the possibility of running separate channels for showing ICC Cricket World Cup matches live.

     

    This assertion was made in the Supreme Court, which later reserved orders on the appeal by Prasar Bharati against the order of the Delhi High Court, which had earlier this month directed Doordarshan not to share live signals of the matches with cable operators.

     

    The apex court had on Tuesday asked the pubcaster to give its response on the possibility of launching a separate channel.

     

    Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose extended the interim order allowing Doordarshan to telecast the matches.

     

    Senior advocate P Chidambaram on behalf of Star Sports said Prasar Bharati could create a mirror image of the World Cup telecast, which does not go to cable operators.

     

    Star Sports said its experts could help Doordarshan in showing entertainment programmes on its channel at the time when World Cup telecast is on.

     

    Attorney general Mukul Rohatgi on behalf of Prasar Bharati said that this was technically not feasible.

     

    Rohatgi denied a contention made by Chidambaram that DD had in fact set up a separate channel at the time of the last Commonwealth Games. He said the channel had merely donned new colours in keeping with the Games.

     

    Star Sports and Prasar Bharati filed their respective additional affidavits as directed by the Court on 17 February.

     

    Star Sports said in its affidavit that it had incurred loss of Rs 290 crore last year for sharing sports signals with Doordarshan and was expected to incur a further loss of Rs 120 crore for the World Cup telecasts alone this year.

     

    In its judgment, the High Court had refused to strike down the must carry clause of 2000 under which cable operators have to carry signals of Doordarshan, and also the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act 2007.

     

    A bench of Justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva passed the order 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.

     

    In the order, the Court had said, “The appeal as well as writ petition (civil) 8458/2007 are allowed to the extent that the live broadcasting signal shared by ESPN/STAR by virtue of the Sports Act with Prasar Bharati, shall not be carried in the designated Doordarshan channels under the must carry obligation cast by the Cable TV Network Act on cable operators. This shall operate prospectively.”

     

    In its directive, the Court had observed that while the advertisement revenue received by DD in respect of the shared content of the sports channels was to be shared in the ratio of not less than 75:25, “it still does not cater to the loss of subscription revenue” by ESPN and Star.

     

    BCCI, Nimbus Communications Ltd and the two sports channels (ESPN and Star) had challenged the High Court’s single judge November 2007 order rejecting their pleas that no cable television network, Direct-to-Home (DTH) Network, multi-system network or local cable operator could broadcast such sports events without a licence from the content owners.

  • Prasar Bharati moves SC against Delhi HC judgment on World Cup telecasts

    Prasar Bharati moves SC against Delhi HC judgment on World Cup telecasts

    NEW DELHI: Prasar Bharati today filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court (SC) to appeal against the judgment of the Delhi High Court (HC) barring it from sharing signals of the ICC World Cup Cricket 2015 with cable operators.

     

    The leave petition presented by Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi is expected to come up for hearing on 10 February.

     

    In its judgment, the HC had refused to strike down the must carry clause under which cable operators have to carry signals of Doordarshan.

     

    A bench of Justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva passed the order 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.

     

    In its order, the Court refused to strike down a 2000 notification issued by Prasar Bharati, which made it mandatory for cable operators to carry DD National and DD News channels. Simultaneously, the court also rejected the additional prayers by ESPN Star to strike down Section 3 of the Sports Act, which makes it mandatory for them to share with Prasar Bharati the live feed of sporting events of national importance.

     

    DD officials said the Mandatory Sharing Act was clear that matches would have to be shared with DD on its terrestrial network and via its direct-to-home Freedish. An official said the directive by the Court appeared to be a precautionary measure aimed at warning cable operators who pirate the signals and not Doordarshan.

     

    In the order, the Court had said, “The appeal as well as writ petition (civil) 8458/2007 are allowed to the extent that the live broadcasting signal shared by ESPN/Star by virtue of the Sports Act with Prasar Bharati, shall not be carried in the designated Doordarshan channels under the must carry obligation cast by the Cable TV Network Act on cable operators. This shall operate prospectively.”

     

    In its directive, the Court had observed that while the advertisement revenue received by DD in respect of the shared content of the sports channels was to be shared in the ratio of not less than 75:25, “it still does not cater to the loss of subscription revenue” by ESPN and Star.

     

    BCCI, Nimbus Communications and the two sports channels (ESPN and Star) had challenged the high court’s single judge November 2007 order rejecting their pleas that no cable television network, Direct-to-Home (DTH) Network, multi-system network or local cable operator could broadcast such sports events without a licence from the content owners.

  • Tdsat directs ESS against switching off channels to Dish TV

    Tdsat directs ESS against switching off channels to Dish TV

    MUMBAI: The Tdsat has granted interim relief to Dish TV in its dispute with ESPN Software India directing the sports broadcaster to keep giving signals to the direct-to-home (DTH) operator.

    ESPN Software India, a subsidiary of pan-Asian sports broadcaster ESPN Star Sports (ESS), runs five channels namely ESPN, Star Sports, Star Cricket, ESPN HD and Star Cricket HD.

    Dish TV had filed a petition with the broadcast tribunal against the public notices issued by the ESS on 5 and 12 November for disconnection of signals to its subscribers.

    The notice was issued on the grounds of non-signing of the agreement, breach of regulations including reporting requirements and non-payment of subscriptions fees.

    The Tdsat member P.K. Rastogi ruled that ESS will not give effect to its public notices till further hearing in the matter.
    The tribunal also directed Dish TV to allow ESS to conduct audit in terms which the latter should complete in two weeks by providing full co-operation.

    It also told Dish TV to produce all the relevant records before the representatives of ESS in conducting the audit including the manner in which it is maintaining ‘India Cricket Pack‘.

    "Based on the audit report, both the parties will meet and reconcile their accounts," Rastogi stated in his order.

    Dish TV‘s senior counsel Maninder Singh contended that ESS did not issue notice under clause 4.1 of the inter-connect agreement which is necessary to give effect to the public notice, a fact that was not disputed by the broadcaster.

    However, Mukul Rohatgi appearing on behalf of ESS contested the argument by saying that it was not necessary to issue notice 4.1 before disconnection.

    The tribunal, however, held that a notice under 4.1 is essential in this matter since there was a written agreement in place which expired due to efflux of time.

    Tdsat had passed an order on 10 April directing the two parties to reconcile the amount that ESS needs to refund on the basis of SMS reports.

    However, Dish TV based on its own record determined that ESS was required to refund Rs 196.8 million till September and started adjusting the same from subscription fee payable to ESS.

    The broadcaster contended that unless it was allowed to audit the SMS system of the DTH operator it would be difficult to determine the exact amount to be refunded.

    Another bone of contention between the parties is the India Cricket Pack introduced by Dish TV which according to ESS is causing revenue loss since the subscriber numbers cannot be recorded as these packs are available only when India cricket is available on the channel and gets disconnected after the event ends.

    To this, Singh said that the pack is available on a monthly basis and not only for days when India was playing cricket as alleged by the respondent.

    While stating that it was ready to sign a deal based on RIO, Dish TV said it can‘t share the names of subscriber as the regulation doesn‘t mandate it and is against its commercial interest. It has also agreed to provide audit of its SMS system.

  • Pay channel rates: HC seeks government response

    Pay channel rates: HC seeks government response

    MUMBAI: The Delhi High Court has issued notice to the central government for its response to a petition filed by Star India challenging the Trai (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) order capping pricing of pay channels at Rs 5 under conditional access system (CAS).

    The matter will come up for next hearing on 15 November. The court will examine whether Star’s fundamental right to do business in India stands affected by the price regulation.

    Star has the option to approach the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT).

    “Our writ petition has been admitted by the court and has been slotted for hearing on 15 November. We will only know then if our plea stands accepted or rejected,” says a Star India spokesperson.

    Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Star, argued that the regulation of broadcasting was beyond Trai’s jurisdiction.

    Star had filed an appeal in the court, challenging the basis of Trai’s recent announcement on pricing for CAS. The matter came up for hearing today.