Tata Sky Vs TRAI: Legal Battle Continues Over New Tariff Rules; Delhi HC Schedules Next Hearing On 8 February

The next hearing of the Tata Sky’s case against Telecom Regulatory of India’s (TRAI) tariff regime has been scheduled for 8 February, the Indian Television reports. The legal battle also involves Discovery, Sun Direct and Airtel Digital TV.

On Monday (4 February), Tata Sky’s advocate Kapil Sibal concluded his arguments which included various legal submission, followed by Discovery India Communication’s counsel Gopal Jain laid the foundation of his case and is expected to conclude on the next hearing date.

The regulatory body informed the court that the latest tariff order was implemented on 1 February. Earlier TRAI, despite scheduling the initial implementation to 28 December 2018, offered an extension to Distribution Platform Operators until 31 January to enforce the norms.

Tata Sky had announced the new pricing of packs and channels, after receiving a show-cause notice by the regulatory body.

“Tata Sky has always been compliant to regulatory requirements. We have gone live with our modes of communication across the Tata Sky website, Tata Sky mobile app and also equipped the dealers that subscribers can reach out to,” Tata Sky MD and CEO Nagpal said.

This is not the first time broadcasters and DTH operators has stood up against the regulatory body in India.

Back in 2017, Tata Sky, Discovery Communication India and Airtel Digital TV’s owner Bharti Telemedia stood against and filed petitions against TRAI over interconnect regulations.