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Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) has petitioned in the Supreme Court against the Mumbai High Court verdict announced on June 30, which upheld the constitutionality of the new tariff order by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
BusinessLine received a confirmation in this regard from a senior official in IBF. IBF contends the Mumbai High Court ruling that says broadcasters have the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression, they say that this right is not absolute and this will infringe upon broadcasters’ freedom of speech and expression. IBF, Film and Television Producers Guild of India, Zee Entertainment Ltd and Sony Pictures Network India, all petitioned against the new tariff order in the Mumbai High Court and lost on June 30.
Rules benefit consumers
On January 1, 2020, the TRAI issued new tariff rules by which the Network Capacity Fee (NCF) price was lowered, benefiting consumers. Previously, a sum of ₹ 130 was applicable for all free-to-air channels and consumers needed to pay more in order to watch additional channels.
Also read: IBF forms industry regulatory body for OTT content under new IT rule
After the amendments to the broadcast sector tariffs, consumers will pay ₹130 as NCF charge but will be entitled to get 200 channels. Changes were also mandated to be made in the price of individual channels.
The petitions said the new regulations were “arbitrary, unreasonable and violative of their fundamental right”.
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