Delhi HC seeks reply from stakeholders about unencrypted channels on DD Free Dish
Repeated complaints were made to MIB against nine private regional channels in the past that have been bypassing Free Dish regulations, creating discrepancies in the system
Delhi High Court has asked MIB, Prasar Bharati, Dish TV India and Zee Media Corporation to file a reply before April 30, 2021, explaining how unencrypted channels were made available on DD Free Dish for over two years and what steps have been taken to stop the same.
In early March 2020, a PIL was filed seeking cancellation of the permission issued to Dish TV India and Zee Media Corporation Limited for uplinking unencrypted channels in KU Band on GSAT-15 satellite and seeking a court-monitored investigation into the discrepancies.
“Our prayer to the honourable court in public interest is that they issue appropriate writ quashing the permission issued by MIB to the DTH players and the channel cluster for uplinking TV channel signals in unencrypted mode through the teleport of the public broadcaster in KU band on GSAT- 15 satellite and pass appropriate orders/directions restraining the parties from uplinking TV channel signals in unencrypted mode,” said Joby B Varghese, advocate for petitioner.
“We would also request the court to pass appropriate orders/directions directing the public broadcaster to recover from the DTH provider and the channels the loss caused to the public exchequer through the illegal carriage of his channel on DD free dish platform,” Varghese further said.
For the past two years, repeated complaints have been made to MIB on how nine private channels (also named in the petition) have been bypassing Free Dish regulations, creating discrepancies in the system. According to MIB, this situation occurred due to the co-location of signals and the non-mandatory requirement for encryption of signals of a Free-to-Air TV Channel.
The petition highlights MIB’s permissions to certain platforms to carry on the dual transmission on C-band as well as Ku-band. DD Free Dish platform operates in the Ku-band on GSAT 15 satellite, providing services to the viewers on a free-to-air basis and thus guaranteeing huge viewership and reach to broadcasters on the platform. The nine private regional channels in question are allegedly available in unencrypted form to viewers illegally through the set-top box meant for free to air viewing of channels through the DD Free Dish platform. According to various complaints made to the ministry, the glitch is not only creating an unfair ground for channels that secure spots on DD Free Dish through a rather expensive bidding process but also causing the public broadcaster losses to the tune of almost Rs80-Rs100 crore annually.
However, the government has been proactive in the matter in the last few months. Just last month, Information & Broadcasting (I&B) minister Prakash Javadekar replied to a question in Loksabha by stating: “Reference was received from Prasar Bharati regarding the reception of some channels of the private broadcasters on the Set-Top Boxes of DD Free Dish subscribers, which were not part of channels downlinkable from that platform. The Ministry proposes to address this issue in the new uplinking and downlinking guidelines for private TV channels to be notified by the Government.”
Turns out, MIB is also all set to amend channel uplinking and downlinking rules. In order to prevent unauthorized receipt of signals, the proposed guidelines apparently clearly mention that while the existing guideline allows a company to apply either in C or KU band, under the new proposal, uplinking can be done in the frequency band specified by the applicant. Uplinking in a band other than the C band has to be in encrypted mode.
