The order follows a complaint about "alleged anticompetitive behaviour and abuse of dominant position" by Star India in charging excessive licence fee from Thiruvananthapuram Entertainment Network (P) Ltd, as compared to fees charged from the bigger cable operators of the state.
Star India has denied all the allegations.
Asking its Director General to conduct a detailed probe, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) said its examination so far "prima facie indicates" that Star India is acting in contravention of certain provisions of the Competition Act, relating to abuse of dominance.
As per the CCI order, Thiruvananthapuram Entertainment Network (P) Ltd has been in business for 15 years and supplies signals for telecast of various TV channels including those of Star TV to around 22,000 customers in Kerala.
Also Read
The informant deposed before CCI that it has to enter into agreements with Star India from time to time whereby it is given a bouquet of channels for monetary consideration, which is enhanced periodically.
It further said that till 2014, the rates being charged by Star India from the complainant as well as its bigger competitors including Kerala Communicators Cable Limited, Asianet Cable Vision and DEN Networks were more or less uniform.
"It is alleged that such disparity is shown by the Opposite Party with the intention of eliminating small-scale broadcasters from the State of Kerala and creating monopoly of only big players like KCCL, ACV and DEN," as per the CCI order.
CCI said it had asked Star India to provide certain information regarding its competitors in Kerala and their respective market shares.
CCI further said it therefore obtained information from the public domain and observed that Star India "seems to be in a position of dominance in relevant market for provision of broadcasting services in the State of Kerala".
The regulator also sought additional information from the complainant regarding the actual rates charged by Star India, after which it sought to withdraw the complaint saying its disputes "stood resolved and the Opposite Party had agreed to re-consider the tariff rates as per the total number of connections of the Informant".
Accordingly, it said, a settlement cannot be the basis for termination of any proceedings and rejected the request for withdrawal of the complaint.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content