MUMBAI: With just a day left for the 30-day deadline set by the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (Tdsat), but music channel MTV and sibling kids’ channel Nick are still missing from Dish TV.
It was on 10 February that Tdsat had issued a directive giving the two Viacom channels 30 days notice to make themeselves available to Zee Group’s DTH service Dish TV. As per Tdsat’s dictat, within the time frame from 10 February to 12 March, the two channels from the MTV stable had to be visible to Dish TV subscribers.
Dish TV had issued a reminder to MTV, stating that the time period is on the verge of expiry and hoping for a positive response on the same. According to a senior Dish TV executive, “We issued a final reminder on 9 March. If they fail to respond to the same, we will move the Tdsat next week.”
When contacted by Indiantelevision.com, a senior MTV Networks India executive said, “At this point of time, we don’t want to comment on this matter.”
It is worth noting that when contacted earlier by Indiantelevision.com, MTV Networks India Sr VP network development and licensing and merchandising Sanjeev Hiremath had stated that the Set-Discovery One alliance (of which the two channels are a part) is already in talks with ASC Enterprises (Dish TV’s holding company) in regards to the matter.
When asked if his DTH network and the One Alliance were anywhere near agreement, a senior Dish executive said, “We did have a few rounds of talks. However, nothing has been finalized as of now.”
Dish TV, last year, had moved the disputes tribunal seeking legal redressal against, what it says, is MTV’s unwillingness to come onto its DTH platform.
MTV India operates three channels in the country — MTV and Nick, distributed by the One Alliance and Vh1, distributed by Zee-Turner.
