Tata Sky, Zee lock horns again

Direct-to-home television broadcaster Tata Sky has filed an application with the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal seeking a direction to Zee-Turner to disclose information on pricing of its channels.

A TDSAT bench headed by Justice Arun Kumar accepted the application filed by Tata Sky, a 80:20 Tata-Star DTH venture, and directed Zee-Turner, distributor of Zee and other channels, to file its reply within a week.

The application also asked Zee-Turner to furnish details of the rates it charges from MSOs and cable operators and sought to know whether it had informed the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India about the prices.

During the proceeding, the Tata-Sky counsel said that Zee-turner had hiked its prices saying it had more than 32 channels now. However, the TDSAT chairman said both sides have to be reasonable on this and try to settle the issue.

On September 20 the tribunal had ordered Zee-Turner to supply all its 32 channels to Tata Sky within 48 hours at the rate of Rs 75 till October 18.

Zee, which also owns India's biggest DTH service provider, Dish TV, has contended that it has five bouquets and Tata Sky would have to subscribe to all of them. Tata Sky, however, is of view that Zee has only two bouquets.

Zee Turner is a 74:26 joint venture between Zee Telefilms and Turner International India, a sister company of Time Warner.

What is CAS? What is DTH?