MUMBAI: Acting on expected lines, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court challenging the recent Bombay High Court verdict that upheld the New Tariff Orders (NTO) 1.0 and 2.0, besides the powers of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to fix tariffs for broadcasting, Exchange4Media reports.
IBF’s petition is tentatively expected to be listed for hearing next week, according to the website.
The broadcasters had prayed for striking down the amended tariff order and regulations since they violate Article 14, Article 19(1)(a) and Article 19(1)(g).
In its appeal, the IBF has contended that the Bombay High Court’s observation that the broadcasters have a fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression, but that said right is not absolute, will infringe on its fundamental right to free speech and expression.
It bears noting that while upholding the constitutional validity of NTO 2.0, the Bombay High Court had struck down the crucial second part of the TRAI order, deeming its provisions to be “arbitrary”.
The twin pricing conditions in TRAI’s NTO 2.0 order were:
1. The sum of the a-la-carte rates of the pay channels (MRP) forming part of a bouquet shall in no case exceed one and half times the rate of the bouquet of which such pay channels are a part.
2. The a-la-carte rates of each pay channel (MRP), forming part of a bouquet, shall in no case exceed three times the average rate of a pay channel of the bouquet of which such pay channel is a part.
While hearing arguments in the case on September 30 2020, the Bench of Justices AA Sayed and Anuja Prabhudessai had asked whether TRAI had placed twin pricing conditions for consultation. The Bench had noted that more than 90% bouquets in the market are DPO (distribution platform operator) bouquets, which do not seem to be under the same restrictions as applicable to broadcasters’ bouquets. It asked TRAI’s counsel to explain how DPO bouquets are bound by the same restrictions applicable to broadcasters.
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