NEW DELHI: The Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (Tdsat) has ordered ESPN Software India to withdraw the specific clause of offering the three channels of the group as a bundle to Tata Sky. It has also told the sports broadcasting company not to disconnect the signals to the direct-to-home (DTH) operator till the disposal of the petition.

Tata Sky's subscription with ESPN Software had expired on 15 March. During fresh negotiations, ESPN made a new Reference Interconnect Offer (RIO) on 15 May, asking Tata Sky to take all the three channels at the basic tier level or face disconnection from 20 May.

Tata Sky had responded to the RIO, saying that it violates the regulation on DTH that requires broadcasters offering all their channels on an a la carte basis. But ESPN did not agree to that, the tribunal was told. That is when Tata Sky filed the petition with Tdsat.


The tribunal noted that Tata Sky's subscription agreement with ESPN Software India had expired on 15 March.

Tata Sky senior counsel Ramji Srinivasan argued that the DTH player has sought some interim directions in its favour.

ESPN counsel N Ganapathy, however, argued that negotiations are on to sort the differences between the parties. Meanwhile, ESPN may be granted time to file its reply. ESPN will not disconnect supply of signals to the petitioner.

Tata Sky, however, argued that this alone would not suffice. It held that under the RIO offered by ESPN, the former is compelled to include three channels - ESPN, Star Sports and Star Cricket - at the entry level pay tier, which is prohibited under the Regulations.

Srinivasan invoked the Trai regulation that says that all broadcasters must offer their channels on an a la carte basis to the DTH players. He stressed that the a la carte offer is obligatory on the part of the broadcaster.


Thus, the RIO of ESPN making it obligatory upon Tata Sky to keep all the channels/services in the entry level pay tier is violative of the regulation.

Tata Sky's argument is that the broadcaster is compelling the petitioner to pay for all such three channels as a package and is not permitting a-la-carte choice, the tribunal noted. "This is not permissible in view of the said Regulation," the tribunal held.

Tdsat said: "Accordingly, it is ordered that the terms of the RIO mentioned shall not be given effect to by respondent No.1 (ESPN)."

In the meantime, the court ordered: "Respondent No.1 will not disconnect or disrupt supply of signals of the said three channels to the petitioner, subject to the petitioner continuing to pay as per rates prescribed by respondent ESPN mentioned in the RIO."

The court has asked ESPN to file replies to the petition within three weeks, and TataSky to file their rejoinders within two weeks thereafter.

The case will now come up for hearing on 10 July.