Tdsat reserves order on broadcaster plea against tariff order

Tdsat reserves order on broadcaster plea against tariff order

MUMBAI: The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (Tdsat)) today closed its week-long hearings and reserved its order on the petition filed by the broadcasters against the tariff order prescribed by Trai for digital addressable systems.

In their petitions, broadcasters had raised concern over the new tariff order for digital addressable systems fixed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).
 
The Tdsat bench headed by chairman Justice SB Sinha heard the broadcasters including Zee Turner, Star Den Media Services, ESPN Star Sports, Sun TV, Viacom18 and MSM Discovery who are opposing the tariff order fixed by Trai for DTH, digital addressable cable and IPTV.
 
In its tariff order dated 21 July, the sector regulator made it mandatory for broadcasters to make channels available to DTH and addressable digital cable networks at 35 per cent of the corresponding rates for analogue cable operators. Earlier, Trai had fixed tariff for DTH at 50 per cent of the analogue cable price.