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After a marathon hearing that began before noon and lasted several
hours, the judges Hegde and Singh, reserved their judgment, implying
that they would write the order at a later date. Both the petitioners
and the respondents expect an early direction from the apex court
on the case.
However, the apex court did not give any interim relief to the
petitioners, which was expected since Siti Cable-ASC Enterprise's
HITS platform has already been soft-launched and is providing signals
to some subscribers of Star and Sony.
Sony, which had refrained from appealing against the MRTPC order,
also joined issues through an SLP yesterday that was clubbed with
Star's and heard today. The decision was taken as Sony was already
a respondent in the case filed by Siti Cable-ASC Enterprises with
the MRTPC.
Former finance minister and lawyer P Chidambaram represented Star,
while Sony's lawyer was Ashok Desai. Congress MP and lawyer Kapil
Sibal represented Siti Cable-ASC Enterprises.
According to information available with indiantelevision.com, Star
and Sony's argument revolved around the fact that the MRTPC observation
on creation of a monopoly is not valid as they don't have any commercial
agreement with ASC Enterprises.
Since no contractual agreement exists between ASC Enterprises and
the broadcasting companies, the question of providing the channels'
signals to the HITS project does not arise, the petitioners contended
today at the hearing. Sibal argued that the Siti-ASC combine was
executing what had been permitted by the government, and agreements
existed between the channels and Siti Cable.
However, Chidambaram said, through HITS-based transmission Siti
wanted to wipe out the control of the content provider over the
subscriber base and was behaving as if it was the owner of the signals
even when it had no agreement with Star for transmission through
HITS.
Several references to CAS were also made during the hearing that
lasted almost till 4 pm. It was argued that in the wake of CAS being
deferred in Delhi and its future uncertain elsewhere, the HITS project
has lost its relevance - a line of argument that was hotly contested
by Sibal.
Sibal also contended that Star is promoting its cable company Hathaway
in cable operations and therefore wanted to create a monopoly situation
by denying Siti the signals of major channels. Star holds a 26 per
cent stake in Hathway.
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