ITV

Tag: Supreme Court

  • Trai head office sealed in Delhi

    Trai head office sealed in Delhi

    NEW DELHI: In what could temporarily halt industry-related work, the offices of the broadcast regulator were sealed by the Delhi authorities under a drive against illegal construction in the Capital.

    According to a TV news channel, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (Trai) headquarters were sealed today for being in violation of building bylaws and having an office on Africa Avenue, which is predominantly a residential area. Under heavy police protection, the sealing team came to the Trai office and asked the employees to leave.

    The sealings against commercial establishments in residential areas of Delhi resumed this morning with officials of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) descending upon an upmarket mall in South Delhi as part of a Supreme Court-mandated clean-up drive.

    MCD officials, backed by a contingent of Delhi Police personnel, started the drive by sealing CTC Mall in Maharani Bagh near Ashram. They then sealed two other properties in nearby areas, a report by United News of India stated.
    There were no reports of any resistance from anywhere today, though traders have held the city to ransom through protests over the last fortnight.

    Yesterday, the Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee had said sealing would start from Wednesday.

    Earlier, the apex court had directed the committee to restart sealing and prepare a schedule after consultation with the authorities after the Central government failed to come out with a clear-cut policy on commercial activities in residential areas.

  • Upscale hotels may have to pay more for pay channels

    Upscale hotels may have to pay more for pay channels

    MUMBAI: If an order issued today by the sector regulator gets implemented, pay broadcasters will now be able to charge “market rates” to more upscale hotels and big commercial establishments that access their channels.

    The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has identified “hotels with ratings of 3 Star and above, heritage hotels and commercial establishments providing board and lodging and having 50 or more rooms” as falling within the category that “may not need tariff protection.”

    The regulator has grouped the rest of commercial establishments into the residual category and decreed that the same rules that govern ordinary cable subscribers will apply to them also, both in CAS and non-CAS areas.

    The Trai order has decreed that: “For commercial subscribers falling in the first category, there will be no ceiling on pay channel tariff. However, in order to ensure that the choice of individual channels is made available to these subscribers also in CAS areas, the draft amendment order has provisions for commercial subscribers falling in the first category in the form of mandatory offer of channels on a la carte basis with restrictions on the maximum retail prices of individual channel in relation to the prices of bouquets. The tariff for supply of set top boxes is also proposed to be regulated on similar lines.”

    Trai issued the order after the Supreme Court agreed with its argument that in order to ensure an orderly growth of the telecom sector in the country, it was necessary to have differential tariffs for commercial and non-commercial subscribers of conditional access system (CAS).

    Trai’s submission was in response to a petition filed by the Association of Hotels and Restaurants, which challenged an order of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) that upheld the dual rates.

    Trai has placed the draft Tariff Orders, both for CAS notified areas and non-CAS areas, along with a letter to stakeholders inviting comments by 10 November.

  • Star offers to shake hands with Dish TV

    Star offers to shake hands with Dish TV

    NEW DELHI: Star and Dish TV move towards a consensus by shaking hands even as the launch of Tata Sky’s DTH service is imminent.

    A day before the Supreme Court is to hear a case on channel pricing, Star today delivered to Dish TV, country’s first pay DTH platform, the integrated receiver decoder boxes that would enable the DTH operator to access Star channels for redistribution purpose.

    Some formalities are yet to be completed, both the companies said.

    Dish TV CEO Sunil Khanna added, “It might take a couple of days for us to start beaming the Star channels on the platform as the boxes need to be tested.”

    As per a directive of the disputes tribunal TDSAT (Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal), Star has offered its channels to Dish TV at Rs 27 per subscriber a month. Dish would also not pay any minimum guarantee money to Star.

    A spokesperson for Star India said that in deference to TDSAT directive an offer was made to Dish TV despite the latter moving the Supreme Court on the tribunal order.

    Not clear at the moment is what would happen to a Supreme Court case, which was filed by Dish TV some time back. Dish had petitioned that instead of Rs 27, the Star channels should come to it cheaper as Star had offered its channels to Dish some years back at one-fourth the price paid by cable ops.

    The price of Rs 27 fixed by TDSAT for Star bouquet of channels is 50 per cent of Rs 54 that a cable operator presently pays.

    Dish TV sources said the Supreme Court case is likely to continue, but is unlikely to have much of a bearing on the present truce called by Dish and Star. The apex court will be hearing the Dish TV petition on 4 August.

    Dish TV has been waging a legal battle for over a year to get Star and Sony-Discovery channels on its platform. The Sony-Discovery One Alliance recently signed up with Dish TV.

    Meanwhile, Dish’s Khanna said that a price revision of the monthly subscription would be decided in a few days time. “In all probability, Star Plus and other popular channels would be part of Dish TV’s basic tier of service, which also includes other mass general entertainment channels like Zee TV, Sony and HBO.”

  • Lanka Tri-series: SC to rule on Ten Sports’ plea

    Lanka Tri-series: SC to rule on Ten Sports’ plea

    MUMBAI: All eyes in the sports broadcast business are on the Supreme Court today, as it is scheduled to deliver its ruling on the plea filed by Taj Television, owner of Ten Sports, seeking a directive to pubcaster Prasar Bharati against interfering with the live transmission of the upcoming Sri Lanka tri-series involving India as well.

    Ten Sports, which holds exclusive telecast rights to Sri Lanka cricket, will obviously be hoping for a ruling similar to the one it secured ahead of India’s tour to the West Indies in early May. The apex court had then ordered that Ten Sports had exclusive telecast rights to the series and need not share it with the pubcaster.

    Ten Sports’ petition is not restricted only to cricket but also includes forthcoming major hockey (women’s Champions Trophy and World Cup) and tennis events (US Open) that it holds telecast rights to.

    The matter will be heard by a Bench of Justice Ashok Bhan and Justice Markandey Katju, the Press Trust of India has reported. The Bench had earlier issued notices to the information and broadcasting ministry and Prasar Bharati on Ten Sports’ plea.

    It is worth noting that Ten Sports’ rights to Sri Lanka cricket, which it has held since 1 January 2004, comes to a close on to 31 December 2006.

  • Govt proposing to set up separate disputes tribunal for broadcast content

    Govt proposing to set up separate disputes tribunal for broadcast content

    NEW DELHI: The government is proposing to set up a separate disputes tribunal for broadcast content on the lines of Telecom Disputes Settlement And Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) as part of a comprehensive content regulation framework.

    The proposed organisation, likely to be called Content Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal, would have the powers as vested under the Code of Civil Procedures, 1908, but not totally bound by it.

    The content disputes tribunal would take up issues brought to it by aggrieved parties, including those who feel unfair treatment has been meted out by the proposed Content Regulatory Authority of India.

    The structure of these two organizations are based on the functioning of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) and TDSAT, which oversee telecom services, including broadcast and cable services at the moment.

    The idea of creating a separate content disputes tribunal is based on feedback that the government has had from industry stakeholders and industry bodies like the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

    As in the case of TDSAT, any appeal against content disputes tribunal’s orders can be made only in the Supreme Court. The government is also proposing to put a penalty on flouting the appellate tribunal’s order’s, which can go up to Rs 50 million.

    Programming scheduling TV channel’s responsibility

    Meanwhile, as per a draft of content code being considered in the I&B ministry, the onus of proper scheduling of programming would rest with a licensee.

    “(The) licensee should take care that the time when minors are expected to be viewing the programmes, i.e. between 4 pm to 7 pm, the Broadcasting Code should be strictly followed,” a draft of the code states, stressing clearly on greater degree of self-regulation on the part of TV channels.

    However, as pr another suggestion to the ministry, the restrictions on the provision of material unsuitable on television programmes for children should be relaxed on a gradual and progressive basis after 7 pm.

    The assumption is that after 7 pm parents may reasonably be expected to share responsibility for what their children are permitted to watch on television.

    The proposed content regulator is also unlikely to preview or pre-censor any TV programme, including films on television. It should be a licensee’s responsibility to ensure that the viewers are aware of the classification of the films broadcast on the television.