Tata Sky issues public notice for discontinuing channels, TV18 follows suit
Apart from TV18 and Viacom18 channels, Turner channels will also get disconnected by Tata Sky
Tata Sky published a public notice period in an English daily on September 9 saying that the DTH platform will cease close to 100 channels in 15 days time due to the failure of mutual understanding to renew the agreement between the parties.
As per the notice, from September 24, the DTH operator will stop airing channels such as Cineplex HD, CNBC Bajar, CNBC TV18 Prime HD, CNN News18, Colors Bangla HD, Colors Infinity HD, Colors Kannada HD, Colors Marathi HD, Colors Odia, Colors Super, Comedy Central HD, ETV Abhiruchi, ETV Andhra Pradesh, ETV Cinema, ETV HD, ETV Life, ETV-Plus, ETV-Telangana, News18 Bihar/ Jharkhand, News18 Madhya Pradesh/ Chhattisgarh, News18 Bangla, News18 Gujarati, News18 Odia, New18 Uttar Pradesh/ Uttaranchal, News18 Urdu, News18 Rajasthan, News18 Kannada, News18 Punjab/ Haryana/ Himachal Pradesh, News18 India, News18 Kerala, News18 Tamil Nadu, News18 Lokmat, News18 Assam/ North East, Colors Tamil, Rishtey Cineplex, Rishtey, Nick Jr, Nick HD+, FYI TV19, History TV18, MTV, MTV Beats, MTV Beats HD, MTV HD+, VH1, VH1 HD, CNN International, HBO HD, WB, Colors HD, Comedy Central, History TV18 HD, Cartoon Network, HBO, Pogo, Sonic and News18 to name a few.
Later, Indiacast Media Distribution, the distribution arm of TV18, issued a public notice saying its channels are likely to be disconnected after three weeks on ground of non-signing of agreement and that subscribers catered by operators across India are likely to be affected.
According to the TDSAT order, the petitioner is claiming a right to treat the agreement whose term has expired on 31 July, 2018 to be operative for a further period of three months as a matter of right. On the other hand, the stand of the respondents is that only when the negotiations are still continuing meaningfully in the opinion of both the parties, the agreement can hold the field for a further period of three months at the maximum.
Hence, the respondents claim a right to issue the impugned notice asking the petitioner to enter into a RIO based agreement on account of failure of negotiations. Of course, the petitioners’ stand is that the negotiations are and can still to go on, but it is disputed by the respondents.
The order further stated, “This Tribunal has been consistently of the view that the parties should be given an opportunity to go for final negotiations for a limited period and if the efforts for negotiated agreement fail, then there is no option but to execute a RIO based agreement. In the present case also we are inclined to follow the same view. Hence, without prejudice to the case of the parties, we direct the parties to enter into a fresh round of negotiations for a period 30 days from today. In case parties are able to arrive at a negotiated agreement, it goes without saying that they can enter into an interconnect agreement on that basis. Otherwise, on expiry of the said period 30 days, if the petitioner is inclined to avail TV signals offered by the respondents, they must enter into a RIO based agreement in accordance with the Regulations.”
As per the notice, from September 24, the DTH operator will stop airing channels such as Cineplex HD, CNBC Bajar, CNBC TV18 Prime HD, CNN News18, Colors Bangla HD, Colors Infinity HD, Colors Kannada HD, Colors Marathi HD, Colors Odia, Colors Super, Comedy Central HD, ETV Abhiruchi, ETV Andhra Pradesh, ETV Cinema, ETV HD, ETV Life, ETV-Plus, ETV-Telangana, News18 Bihar/ Jharkhand, News18 Madhya Pradesh/ Chhattisgarh, News18 Bangla, News18 Gujarati, News18 Odia, New18 Uttar Pradesh/ Uttaranchal, News18 Urdu, News18 Rajasthan, News18 Kannada, News18 Punjab/ Haryana/ Himachal Pradesh, News18 India, News18 Kerala, News18 Tamil Nadu, News18 Lokmat, News18 Assam/ North East, Colors Tamil, Rishtey Cineplex, Rishtey, Nick Jr, Nick HD+, FYI TV19, History TV18, MTV, MTV Beats, MTV Beats HD, MTV HD+, VH1, VH1 HD, CNN International, HBO HD, WB, Colors HD, Comedy Central, History TV18 HD, Cartoon Network, HBO, Pogo, Sonic and News18 to name a few.
Later, Indiacast Media Distribution, the distribution arm of TV18, issued a public notice saying its channels are likely to be disconnected after three weeks on ground of non-signing of agreement and that subscribers catered by operators across India are likely to be affected.
According to the TDSAT order, the petitioner is claiming a right to treat the agreement whose term has expired on 31 July, 2018 to be operative for a further period of three months as a matter of right. On the other hand, the stand of the respondents is that only when the negotiations are still continuing meaningfully in the opinion of both the parties, the agreement can hold the field for a further period of three months at the maximum.
Hence, the respondents claim a right to issue the impugned notice asking the petitioner to enter into a RIO based agreement on account of failure of negotiations. Of course, the petitioners’ stand is that the negotiations are and can still to go on, but it is disputed by the respondents.
The order further stated, “This Tribunal has been consistently of the view that the parties should be given an opportunity to go for final negotiations for a limited period and if the efforts for negotiated agreement fail, then there is no option but to execute a RIO based agreement. In the present case also we are inclined to follow the same view. Hence, without prejudice to the case of the parties, we direct the parties to enter into a fresh round of negotiations for a period 30 days from today. In case parties are able to arrive at a negotiated agreement, it goes without saying that they can enter into an interconnect agreement on that basis. Otherwise, on expiry of the said period 30 days, if the petitioner is inclined to avail TV signals offered by the respondents, they must enter into a RIO based agreement in accordance with the Regulations.”
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