TDSAT to hear Sun-Tata Sky case on April 16

The tussle between direct to home (DTH) company Tata Sky and regional broadcaster Sun TV will now be heard next on April 16 by the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) when Kalanidhi Maran-owned Sun TV will produce a copy of the stay order granted by the Madras High Court on TDSAT's interim order directing it to share signals with Tata Sky.

In an interim order on March 19, the TDSAT had directed Sun TV to provide the signals for its channels to Tata Sky while posting the matter for final hearing in May. Sun TV, however did not give the feed and contended before TDSAT that Tata Sky take all 20 of its channels for Rs 85, which was not acceptable to Tata Sky.

On April 5, TDSAT served a three-day notice on Sun TV to provide the feed to Tata Sky but Sun TV claims to have got a stay on TDSAT's interim order from the Madras High Court.

During proceedings today, Tata Sky contended the hearing should go on as the stay by the Madras High Court is only on the interim order and does not apply on the whole proceedings. Following the interim order, Tata Sky had filed an execution application of TDSAT's order, on which the tribunal on April 3 directed Sun to provide the feed within three days.

Yesterday, TataSky filed an application demanding a fine on Sun TV for disobeying the tribunal's order. Sun TV has been arguing it had no channels on an a-la-carte basis and only has a bouquet of 20 channels.

Tata Sky has been seeking adding Sun TV network's popular regional language channels to its platform for expanding in the southern market. While Sun TV is to launch its own DTH service - Sun Direct - in a couple of months and hence the delay is providing the channels to Tata Sky, industry experts said.