Supreme Court directs ETV and MAA TV to provide signals to Jainhits

The court refuses stay on TDSAT's judgment which had directed ETV and MAA TV to provide signals to Jainhits

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | May 16, 2014

Supreme Court of India on refused the request of ETV and MAA TV to give stay on the Order of the Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal's (TDSAT) dated March 14, 2014 which had directed ETV and MAA TV to provide signals to Jainhits. Moreover, the Apex court directed ETV and MAA TV to provide signals within 2-days in the interim, on pan-India basis to NSTPL. NSTPL is the only HITS service provider in the country under the brand name Jainhits and offers services to consumers through Local Cable Operators (LCOs) across the country.

“NSTPL has been trying to get signals for Jainhits from various Broadcasters for the past two years, but have been denied the same on various grounds. It was only in October last year that Broadcasters started providing signals, after orders were passed by Hon'ble Tribunal. However ETV and MAA TV still were reluctant to provide signals thus necessitating NSTPL to approach TDSAT,” informed Vivek Chib, Counsel, NSTPL.

According to the Tribunal's March 14, 2014 order, the bench of Justice Aftab Alam, Chairperson of TDSAT, and Kuldip Singh, Member had held that ETV and MAA TV cannot refuse to grant signals to Jainhits on the grounds that certain defaulter LCOs or MSOs may approach NSTPL for signals. The Tribunal held that the respondents i.e. ETV and MAA TV had not furnished the name of a single MSO or LCO that might have been held to be its defaulter by a court or competent authority and to whom the petitioner might supply the signals. Undeniably, the petitioner itself was not in any default in payments to the respondent for the simple reason that they were not in any business relationship earlier. Thus looked at from any angle, the prohibition of the provision to regulation 3.2 of the Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable Services) Interconnection Regulations, 2004 was not applicable to this case.

Both ETV and MAA TV had preferred appeals challenging the Tribunal's orders in Supreme Court showing unwillingness to provide signals to Noida Software Technology Park Ltd's Jainhits.

As a result of this interim order passed in favor of NSTPL, Jainhits subscribers would now be able to enjoy popular ETV and MAA TV offerings. Currently, Jainhits offers up to 250 channels including all major pay TV channels and will soon provide full HD and multi-screen services to its consumers. Jainhits has partnered with leading technology organisations such as ARRIS (earlier Motorola Home) and Intelsat – the largest Satellite Company in the world.

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