DTH
CAS rollout: Delhi HC ‘no’ to government plea for more time
NEW DELHI: The Indian government yet again pleaded for more time to roll out CAS — six months to be exact — but a Delhi court has refused to accede to the request asking for a final stand by the next date of hearing.
According to early information available with Indiantelevision.com, even the broadcast regulator pleaded for four to five months time to sort out CAS-related issues like pricing of TV channels.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) submitted to the Delhi High Court today that it has initiated a dialogue with the industry stakeholders on issues related to CAS and which would take few months time to complete and arrive at some consensus.
However, the court was in no mood to listen to such pleas and fixed the next date of hearing for 19 July.
The court observed that if the government is unable to sort out CAS matters, then it could also explore the possibility of going ahead with the rollout based on the Chennai model.
It also said that the government has already used up three month’s time from 10 March when the first directive came to roll out CAS in Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai within a month’s time.
Chennai is the only city in India where CAS has been rolled out and running smoothly since 2003.
Reference to do away with government mandated CAS was also mentioned in the court today during a hearing and reference was made of the relevant section from a draft Broadcast Bill 2006, which is being circulated amongst government organizations for feedback.
A clutch of MSOs, including Hathway and INCablenet, had filed a case against the government on CAS in the Delhi High Court late 2004, alleging that keeping addressability in abeyance had resulted in financial losses to the petitioners.
DTH Operator
JC Flowers withdraws NCLT plea against Dish TV over EGM demand
Move eases pressure on DTH firm as long-running shareholder dispute cools
MUMBAI: In a breather for Dish TV India, JC Flowers Asset Reconstruction has withdrawn its petition before the National Company Law Tribunal seeking directions to convene an extraordinary general meeting.
The development was disclosed by Dish TV in a regulatory filing, confirming that the petitioner chose to withdraw the case during a hearing at the Mumbai bench of the tribunal. A detailed order from the bench is still awaited.
The petition, originally filed under Sections 98 to 100 of the Companies Act, 2013, sought to push for an extraordinary general meeting to address governance issues at the company. The case had its roots in a prolonged shareholder tussle dating back to 2021, when Yes Bank, then the largest shareholder, was at odds with the promoter group led by Subhash Chandra over board reconstitution.
JC Flowers had stepped into the picture as an assignee of Yes Bank’s stressed assets, effectively continuing the legal push initiated earlier. The withdrawal now signals a pause, if not a closure, to that chapter of dispute.
While the reasons behind the withdrawal have not been formally detailed, the move reduces immediate legal pressure on Dish TV, which has been navigating both operational and regulatory challenges in recent years.
For now, the focus shifts back to the company’s business fundamentals, even as the legal dust settles, at least temporarily, on one of its more closely watched shareholder battles.
