Govt cancels ICC’s licence but Pune MSO obtains stay

Pune-based independent multi-system operator (MSO) Intermedia Cable Communication (ICC) has got a stay order from the Delhi High Court against the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s (MIB) notification to cancel its provisional digital addressable system (DAS) licence. 

The MIB had earlier this week cancelled ICC’s provisional licence for DAS following apprehensions raised by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). However, the precise reason for the cancellation of the MSO’s licence could not be confirmed. 

According to a source, the Pune-based MSO had received the cancellation notice a couple of days back. “The MIB notice to ICC said that its provisional licence for DAS is being cancelled with immediate effect. There is mention of the MHA but no elaborate reasons are given for taking this extreme step,” he said. 

After getting the notice, ICC moved the Delhi High Court. In its petition, the MSO contended that the MIB’s decision to terminate its DAS licence was arbitrary and without any reason. ICC has been in the cable business for the last 25 years and the MIB did not have any security concerns when the analogue network was running. So how come in DAS regime the government suddenly has security concerns, the petition further contended. 

The Delhi High Court has now asked the MIB to give a written reply on 9 December. 

ICC CEO Ejaz Inamdar did not want to comment on the issue as the matter was sub judice. 

ICC currently provides multi-channel transmission services under the brand name ICC Digital and is the largest cable TV operator in Pune. It has grown in size with its cable network services being available in the entire eastern belt of Pune. 

The company has created information highway within Pune by laying optical fibre backbone capable of providing high-speed data, high-definition video and voice services. Many channels on ICC services have multi-lingual option (Selected by Viewer) – like Cartoon Network in English/Hindi – History in English/Hindi, and Baby TV in Hindi/English/Arabic. 

ICC is the first in India to offer 3G HD TV services.

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/digitization-news/item/3759-govt-cancels-icc%E2%80%99s-licence-but-pune-mso-obtains-stay.htmlSource: http://cablequest.org/news/digitization-news/item/3759-govt-cancels-icc%E2%80%99s-licence-but-pune-mso-obtains-stay.html