Tuesday 1 May 2007

Judicial Activism

Like in our day to day life, in the industry too, we are depending more and more on the judiciary to regulate the industry. Although, regulations when made have always considered the stake holders to be honest and law abiding citizens, in reality competition, greed, politics and vested interests lead us to do all wrong things to make pr ofits in the shortest of time. In doing so, we give no consideration to others and are willing to either circumvent or flout the laws . The result is ever increasing court cases. 
After TDSAT was involved with the broadcasting industry, they have been keeping busy with hundreds of cases, big as well as small filed by all types of stake holders from small cable operators to large broadcast companies. The bright side is that our courts have given some landmark judgments that would change the nature of the industry in a better way. 

First and foremost amongst all these judgments is the 'Sea TV case' in which Supreme Court had ordered that no competing MSO could be a distributor agent of a broadcaster. This will end the exploitation of thousands of cable operators in the hands of broadcasters who did not give them their decoders and instead, forced them to take the signals from an MSO or operator who was their competitor in the same area. How can one expect a competitor to provide best of the services? This will also end the minimum guarantee (MG) reign. 
The second important order was given by TDSAT in the case of DTH companies where the channel/distribution companies have been forcing DTH operators to accept all their bouquets or have none. Constraint on availability of satellites and transponders make such a proposal unprofitable and land the DTH operators in heavy losses. DTH operators can now demand bouquets of their choice and not be forced with all. This in particular, will benefit all those DTH operators who do not have their own channel bouquets to bargain with others.
Success of CAS implementation has also increased the confidence level in the industry where people have started expecting more regulated, organized and clean business in the future. This has made TRAI think ahead with voluntary CAS in 40 major cities. We may have the necessary regulations in place soon. 
It is heartening to know that the enthusiasm to launch news channels has not died down in India. According to the I & B Ministry, 40 channels are awaiting clearance. God knows what is the charm? When the existing news channels are all turning into more entertainment than news, what will these 40 do? 
We are still waiting for miracles to happen in the IPTV field but the service seems to be a non starter till now. We will focus more on it in the next issue. 
Until then, have a good time.

—— Lt. Col. (Retd.) K K Sharma

Editor


Source: http://cablequest.org/articles/editorials/item/1828-judicial-activism.html

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