TelecomLive January-2019

New Broadcasting Regime www.telecomlive.com 33 Telecom LIVE January 2019 Tariff Order, being arbitrary and not enforceable was not before the Supreme Court for adjudication, there was no specific decision. Therefore, Trai felt it appropriate to not to enforce the capping of price of bouquets at 85 per cent of the sum of a-la-carte price of the channels, as provided for in the third proviso to clause 3(3) of the Tariff Order 2017. Meanwhile, one of the MSOs, namely Fastway Transmission Pvt Ltd filed an appeal (Broadcasting Appeal No. 1/2018) before the Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) seek- ing a direction to Trai to enforce Regulations and Tariff Order, par- ticularly raising the issue of non- compliance of the third proviso to clause 3(3) of the Tariff Order by the broadcasters. It was contended that the said provision is enforce- able in light of the findings of the Supreme Court in its judgment dated Oct 30, 2018, and therefore, Trai may be directed to enforce the said provision against the default- ing broadcasters. TDSAT by its order dated Nov 29, 2018 disposed off the matter in view of assurance given by Trai that it is seized of the issues arising from representations including that of Fastway Transmission and is likely to take a decision within a week. Therefore, Trai, in order to address any ambiguity among the stakeholders in the broadcasting and cable services sector and to avoid any further litigation in the matter, preferred an SLP before the Supreme Court. The SLP was lim- ited to the specific challenge against the findings of the then Chief Justice of the High Court of Madras in her dissenting judgment dated Mar 2, 2018, holding that the capping of discounts as per the third proviso to Clause 3(3) of the that he was concerned with the views expressed by the two judges on the points of differ- ence only. And on the issue of clause 3(3), there was no differ- ence, the court observed. Thereafter, Trai issued a Press Note dated Jul 3, 2018 stating that the Tariff Order 2017, the Quality of Service Regulations 2017 and Intercon- nected Regulations 2017, as upheld by judgments dated Mar 2, 2018 and May 23, 2018 of the High Court of Madras, shall come into effect from Jul 3, 2018. However, Star India Pvt Ltd and Vijaya TV challenged the aforesaid judgments by way of filing special leave petitions (SLPs) before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court vide its judgment dated Oct 30, 2018 dismissed the SLPs and held that the Interconnect Regula- tions 2017 and Tariff Order 2017 are intra vires the TRAI Act. The Supreme Court negated the findings of Justice Sundar in his judgment dated Mar 2, 2018. However, the finding of the Chief Justice of the High Court of Madras in her judgment dated Mar 2, 2018 that the cap- ping on discount as provided for in the third proviso to clause 3(3) of the Tariff Order 2017 is arbitrary and not enforceable, was not specifically agitated before the Supreme Court by any party including Trai. At that time Trai could have filed appeal challenging that part of the order (clause 3(3)), but it was advised that the moment two cross appeals are filed, there are chances of the court staying the complete judgment, a situation which Trai never wanted. The Supreme Court in its judgment dated Oct 30, 2018 had dealt with the issue of cap- ping of discounts on the price of bouquet vis-a-vis the sum of a- Ia carte price of channels. How- ever, as the issue of capping on discount as provided for in third proviso to clause 3 (3) of the Star India Pvt Ltd (in Rs crore) Description FY17 FY16 FY15 Income Revenue from operations 8,525 8,210 7,040 Other income 324 230 178 Total income 8,848 8,441 7,218 Expenses Employee benefit expense 811 695 578 Finance costs 60 22 42 Depreciation, depletion & amortisation 339 159 78 CSR expenditure 0 0 3 Other expenses (A) 6,463 (B) 7,227 7,931 Total expenses 7,673 8,102 8,633 Profit before exceptional items and tax 1,175 339 -1,415 Exceptional items before tax 0 -2,160 -1,415 Total profit before tax 1,175 -1,822 -1,415 Current tax (C) 55 (D) -273 0.263 Deferred tax 563 -546 52 Total tax expense 618 -819 53 Total profit (loss) 558 -1,003 -1,467 Total profit (loss) for period 558 -1,003 -1,467 (A) Operating & Other Expenses = Rs 6,475 Share of profit / (loss) in associates & jvs = Rs 11.79 (B) Operating & Other Expenses = Rs 7,220 Share of profit / (loss) in associates & jvs = (Rs 7.10) (C) Net current tax = Rs 55 Tax balances written back / reinstated = Rs 0.30 (D) Net current tax = Rs 0.06 Tax balances written back / reinstated = (Rs 273)