(4 June 2008 3:00 pm)

NEW DELHI: The Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (Tdsat) has issued notice to Zee Turner Ltd, on the basis of a petition filed by Ortel Communications Ltd, for refusing to give signals to the MSO (multi-system operator) in Raipur, Madhya Pradesh.

Ortel, in fact, has filed a case against Sony as well. While the tribunal has issued notice to Zee, it has already heard the case against Sony and asked the two parties to settle the matter mutually before July or come back to it if negotiations fail.

As part of its expansion outside Orissa, Ortel has gone to Visakhapatnam, Kolkata and Raipur amidst initial resistance from local cable operators (LCOs) and some broadcasters.

But while Ortel has managed to receive signals from most of the broadcasters in Visakhapatnam (except Gemini and ETV) and Kolkata (except ETV), its project at Raipur is completely stalled due to non-availability of signals from most of the national broadcasters.

"We are surprised at the refusal of Zee and Sony to provide signals to our network at Raipur. We are nevertheless building the state of the art network on ground and providing broadband services. The cable services will be launched as soon as we receive signals," says Ortel executive VP Bibhu Prasad Rath.

When asked about the status of Star and ESPN, Rath refused to comment. But industry sources indicate that these two major broadcasters have already agreed to provide their signals to Ortel at Raipur.