ITV

Tag: Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal

  • Siti withdraws petition against SPN from TDSAT

    Siti withdraws petition against SPN from TDSAT

    MUMBAI: Siti Network Ltd has withdrawn its two-year-old petition against Sony Pictures Networks Distribution India Pvt Ltd and ORS from the Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), stating that the parties have settled their differences.

    Siti and Sony had some differences between them on the issue of accounting. While filing the petition in TDSAT, Siti had requested for an interim protection on the ground that it requires some more time to reconcile the accounts.  As per Sony, the total payable including payable for the month of December, 2017 was Rs 68.38 crore but according to the petitioner Siti the amount was much less.

    Following two-years of hearings and adjournments, the parties decided to settle their differences amicably. A bank guarantee of huge amount was involved in the petition amount of which is needed for payment of salaries etc. of employees. After its encashment the petition was formally withdrawn. 

  • SPN India-SITI Networks dispute: TDSAT directs SITI to sign SPN RIO agreement (updated)

    MUMBAI: In a dispute between cable TV MSO SITI Networks and Sony Pictures Networks (SPN) India, the Telecom Disputes Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has ruled that the former should sign the existing reference interconnect Offer (RIO) of the latter.

    SITI Networks had approached the arbitrator saying that India’s leading broadcast network was threatening to disconnect its signals from it. And that it was imposing an “unjustified subscription fee hike” to renew its channel carriage agreement with it. This at a time when the nation is under the spell of SPN India’s biggest property the highly popular and most watched Indian Premier League (IPL).

    The MSO’s counsel appealed to the tribunal that SITI should be permitted to avail of the signals of the channels of SPN India on the same terms and conditions of the expired agreement till the latter publishes a new reference interconnect offer (RIO) as per the new TRAI regulations.

    SPN India’s counsel retaliated by saying that the MSO cannot seek an entitlement to the earlier subscription rates of the expired agreement for the former’s channels as its subscriber base had grown and the broadcast network deserved an increase in subscription fees.

    SPN India’s counsel further argued that since there is no valid agreement, the signals to SITI Networks platform should be disconnected unless the MSO executed the existing RIO as per the TRAI regulations.

    The TDSAT then directed SITI Networks to sign the existing SPN RIO within one week of the order (to avoid disconnection of signals) and with a provision to switch to the new RIO once the same is published as per the new TRAI regulations.

    The tribunal also asked both SITI Networks and SPN India to submit their detailed statements of accounts within the next 10 days so that it could help them settle their dispute on outstanding dues.

    Even as SPN India claimed that it had won a favorable order from the tribunal (no official comment was, however, available from it), a SITI Networks official spokesperson responded to indiantelevision.com saying that the “unjustified hike in subscription fees demand has been turned down by TDSAT and the court has directed to sign the agreement on a RIO basis in accordance with the prevailing regulations.”

    In addition to this, SITI Networks also appeared pleased that the tribunal has “asked the parties to submit their statement of accounts and the related invoices in reference to the outstanding issue.”

  • SC ruling gives FM lifeline to Millenium Broadcasting

    SC ruling gives FM lifeline to Millenium Broadcasting

    MUMBAI: There’s hope yet for Millenium Broadcasting, one of the early entrants into the FM scene in Mumbai with its Win 94.6 station, but which has been off air since May 2004.

    The Supreme Court has thrown a lifeline to the Gautam Radia promoted private radio venture in its long drawn battle with the government, initially fought through the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT).

    The apex court, which heard the case last week, has ruled in Millenium Broadcasting’s favour, concurring with TDSAT’s judgment in the matter. TDSAT had earlier ruled that the government shall not auction the frequency 94.6 MHz and that the company was entitled to broadcast FM radio within the territory of Mumbai.

    In its ruling, TDSAT had also ordered that Millenium Broadcasting was entitled to the benefit of migration from fixed licence fee regime to revenue sharing regime under the second phase of the FM radio policy, which grants this benefit to the existing license holders.

    For the record, the licence of Millenium Broadcast Pvt Ltd was revoked in May 2003 for non-payment of licence fee. Subsequently, in September 2005, the government had invited pre-qualification bids for 338 FM channels in 91 cities across the country, including five FM stations in Mumbai.

    After hearing Millenium Broadcast’s plea in the matter, TDSAT issued an order in October 2005 stating that the frequency shall be excluded from the ambit of the five FM channels in Mumbai that were up for bidding.