NEW DELHI: The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal has issued notice to the Telecom Reulatory Authority of India relating to a petition filed by ESPN contesting the sector regulator's pricing policy to DTH operators at 50 per cent below non Cas (conditional access system) cable rates.


Tdsat has further asked Trai to file a reply affidavit within four weeks and a rejoinder if needed within three weeks.

In its petition, ESPN said Trai's directives to the sports broadcaster to modify its reference interconnect offer (RIO) for direct-to-home operators is without any authority.

During the course of the hearing, ESPN counsel argued that it has been losing subscriber base due to the concept of add-on packages being introduced. ESPN's contention is that since the add-on packages are based on a la carte rates and are not included in the base package, the consumer has to pay more for a channel.


Trai's counsel submitted that ESPN was not following the rules and regulations as laid out. There are 17 broadcasters in the country having 129 pay channels and out of that 16 broadcasters with 126 pay channels have complied with the tariff fixed by the sector regulator. Only one broadcaster with three channels (ESPN, Star Sports and Star Cricket) has been resisting this, Trai's counsel argued.

The case has been listed for hearing on 7 November.