In this petition, filed under Section 14 and 14A of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997 (for short the “Act”), petitioner has prayed for a direction to Respondent No.1 to supply signals of its bouquet of channels to the petitioner on such terms and conditions as may be deemed just and reasonable by this Tribunal. Cause of action for seeking this relief arose from the fact that the petitioner was receiving signals from the 1st respondent broadcaster, when the petitioner was informed that respondent has appointed another Multi-System Operator (MSO), the 2nd respondent, as its exclusive MSO, therefore, the petitioner should seek signals from that MSO. The petitioner contends that this direction to seek signals from a competing MSO is contrary to the Telecommunication (Broadcasting & Cable Services) Interconnection Regulation 2004 (for short the “Regulation”) wherein in Paras 3.1 and 3.2 it is provided that a broadcaster of TV channels should not engage in any practice or activity or involve himself in any exclusive contract with any distributor of TV channels which prevents another distributor of TV channels from obtaining signals directly from the broadcaster. It is further pointed out that Para 3.2 of the Regulation also mandates the broadcaster to provide on request signals of its TV channels on non-discriminatory terms to all distributors of TV channels. From the definition in the Regulation it is pointed that a distributor and MSO stand on the same footing.
