Passing the interim order, Justice K Chandru said, "There will be an interim stay of the confirmation of the auction scheduled to be held on July 17 or any subsequent date until further orders."
Counsel for the state owned Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable (TAC) TV took notice.
In its petition, Makkal Tholai Thodarpu Kuzhumam Limited (Makkal TV), represented by its Director V Dhanasekaran, submitted that by virtue of its June 28 tender, TAC TV had brought about a monopoly in offering channels to viewers through the cable system.
The tender was in effect for regularisation of the cable network, but in the backdrop of the conditions imposed for carrying the signals of television channels, the corporation had in fact denied the free-to-air channels available to subscribers, the petitioner claimed.
The entire network within the State, comprising 31 districts, except Chennai, had been within the services of TAC TV cable services. Therefore, the corporation had floated the tender and had now decided to sell the various slots to satellite channels, Makkal TV said.
The fixation of carriage fee for using the services of various free-to-air channels was in contradiction to the existing system of cable network, the petition said.
Originally, the entire cable network was operated by private persons. There had been no consultation with any of the TV channel operators and the conditions were unilaterally fixed, the petition said.
