Tata Sky moves High Court against TRAI
Saturday - Oct 20, 2007
Vipin Bajaj - Televisionpoint.com | Chandigarh
A division bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court comprising Chief Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Mahesh Grover has issued notice of motion on a Tata Sky Ltd plea alleging that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has failed to ensure a level-playing field in the matter of channels.
The DTH service provider stated that ETC Punjabi, which broadcasts Gurbani live from the Golden Temple, was not being made available on its platform though it is offered as a free–to-air cannel on Doordarshan.
The company said that the TRAI had not come out with content pricing for DTH so far. In its absence, the consumers were being deprived of popular choice, which was evident from the fact that one of the most popular channels in the state, ETC Punjabi, was not available to it despite repeated efforts and several communications to Zee Turner.
Stating that the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) shared the petitioner's concern, the plea said that the Sikh body had sent a communication on the issue to the authorities. The petitioner has impleaded TRAI, Zee Turner and SGPC as respondents in the case.
The petitioner further stated that DTH was conceived of as an "alternate content delivery platform" for providing competition to existing cable TV dominance. In fact, TRAI in its "explanatory memorandum" to its regulation dated December 10, 2004, clearly stated that DTH was an alternative platform to cable and CAS.
However, in reality TRAI has not taken steps to ensure smooth coexistence of DTH service, CAS and cable. As such, it was required to discharge its functions under the statute, but has failed to do so. As a result, respondents Zee Turner and ETC Punjabi have abused their dominant position and have deprived the Tata Sky viewers access to the channel, which has hurt religious sentiments, the plea said.
The petitioners added that the arbitrary and discriminatory treatment meted out to Tata Sky was a facet of regulatory inaction and discrimination which requires to be redressed. As such, emergent orders are required to be passed to ensure Tata Sky viewers were not at a disadvantage, they said.
Going into the background of the matter, the petitioner claimed that it was issued licence by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to offer DTH service where signals are sent directly to a viewer's home. The case now comes up for hearing on October 31.
I thought TATA SKY pulled plug of ETC Punjabi......but its ZEE turner which is playing games.......they are trying to sell by using religion. Cool .....they are playing policitians too............these guys will do anything for money
TRAI must make it mandatory that every channel must be available on all DTH platforms on a-la-carte basis
Saturday - Oct 20, 2007
Vipin Bajaj - Televisionpoint.com | Chandigarh
A division bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court comprising Chief Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Mahesh Grover has issued notice of motion on a Tata Sky Ltd plea alleging that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has failed to ensure a level-playing field in the matter of channels.
The DTH service provider stated that ETC Punjabi, which broadcasts Gurbani live from the Golden Temple, was not being made available on its platform though it is offered as a free–to-air cannel on Doordarshan.
The company said that the TRAI had not come out with content pricing for DTH so far. In its absence, the consumers were being deprived of popular choice, which was evident from the fact that one of the most popular channels in the state, ETC Punjabi, was not available to it despite repeated efforts and several communications to Zee Turner.
Stating that the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) shared the petitioner's concern, the plea said that the Sikh body had sent a communication on the issue to the authorities. The petitioner has impleaded TRAI, Zee Turner and SGPC as respondents in the case.
The petitioner further stated that DTH was conceived of as an "alternate content delivery platform" for providing competition to existing cable TV dominance. In fact, TRAI in its "explanatory memorandum" to its regulation dated December 10, 2004, clearly stated that DTH was an alternative platform to cable and CAS.
However, in reality TRAI has not taken steps to ensure smooth coexistence of DTH service, CAS and cable. As such, it was required to discharge its functions under the statute, but has failed to do so. As a result, respondents Zee Turner and ETC Punjabi have abused their dominant position and have deprived the Tata Sky viewers access to the channel, which has hurt religious sentiments, the plea said.
The petitioners added that the arbitrary and discriminatory treatment meted out to Tata Sky was a facet of regulatory inaction and discrimination which requires to be redressed. As such, emergent orders are required to be passed to ensure Tata Sky viewers were not at a disadvantage, they said.
Going into the background of the matter, the petitioner claimed that it was issued licence by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to offer DTH service where signals are sent directly to a viewer's home. The case now comes up for hearing on October 31.
I thought TATA SKY pulled plug of ETC Punjabi......but its ZEE turner which is playing games.......they are trying to sell by using religion. Cool .....they are playing policitians too............these guys will do anything for money
TRAI must make it mandatory that every channel must be available on all DTH platforms on a-la-carte basis
