On 28 April, the Delhi High Court asked Star India to file its response on a plea by Kerala cable operator Asianet Satellite Communications Ltd (ASCL) against an order of telecom tribunal TDSAT on the rate to be paid to the former for showing its channels in southern India.
Star has to send its response by May 3. The MSO blamed that Star asked it to pay a higher rate than its competitor Kerala Communicators Cable Ltd (KCCL) for subscribing to Star channels.
The lawyer of ASCL said that the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) had asked it to either pay a negotiated amount or the rate under the Reference Interconnect Offer (RIO), which lays down the price and terms for providing signals to a cable operator.
The ASCL lawyer contended that ASCL's options were to either pay Rs 17.38 per subscriber per month under the agreement with Star or Rs 962 per subscriber per month under the RIO, while KCCL was paying only Rs 6 per subscriber per month.
ASCL said that with a subscriber base of around 14 lakh, it was paying over Rs 2.5 crore per month while KCCL, having around 29 lakh subscribers, was paying only Rs 1.8 crore.
Star denied the allegation of discrimination, saying that the RIO rate after discounts was Rs 30 per subscriber per month, which has been constant for the last two years, and not Rs 962 as claimed by ASCL.
The lawyer of ASCL said that the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) had asked it to either pay a negotiated amount or the rate under the Reference Interconnect Offer (RIO), which lays down the price and terms for providing signals to a cable operator.
The ASCL lawyer contended that ASCL's options were to either pay Rs 17.38 per subscriber per month under the agreement with Star or Rs 962 per subscriber per month under the RIO, while KCCL was paying only Rs 6 per subscriber per month.
ASCL said that with a subscriber base of around 14 lakh, it was paying over Rs 2.5 crore per month while KCCL, having around 29 lakh subscribers, was paying only Rs 1.8 crore.
Star denied the allegation of discrimination, saying that the RIO rate after discounts was Rs 30 per subscriber per month, which has been constant for the last two years, and not Rs 962 as claimed by ASCL.
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