HC asks for Centre's response to Zee Media petition against denial of uplinking permission
The MIB passed an order preventing the network from uplinking 10 of its channels to the Ku Band of the GSAT-15 satellite
The Delhi High Court has directed the Centre to respond to Zee Media’s petition, which has challenged the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s order that prevented the media house from uplinking its 10 channels to Ku Band on GSAT-15 Satellite.
The arrangement gave Zee Media an unfair advantage over competitors, according to the ministry. The network has since issued a petition, asking that the order be withdrawn and urged the High Court to restore the permission granted to it to uplink its channels simultaneously on the Ku Band.
The 10 channels that have been denied permission include Zee Hindustan, Zee Rajasthan, Zee Punjab Haryana Himachal, Zee Bihar Jharkhand, Zee Madhya Pradesh Chattisgarh, Zee Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand, Zee Salaam, Zee 24 Kalak and Zee 24 Taas and Zee Odisha,
A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad issued a notice based on Zee Media’s petition, and gave time to the Centre to present a response.
In its petition, the network had contended that that the basis of MIB’s order preventing the channel uplinking has not been shared with it.
“Without access to these key documents, the petitioner has been put in grave disadvantage and is unable to exercise its right to a free and fair hearing,” read the petition.
The MIB on its part has said that being on the GSAT-15 satellite gives Zee Media channels access on DD FreeDish, making the free-to-air. This can give them unfair advantage over their competitors.
