Subscribers file lawsuit over Astro

Abdul Aziz · #1 24-11-2008, 11:32 PM

Subscribers file lawsuit over Astro

Subscribers of pay TV provider Astro have filed a class action lawsuit against PT Direct Vision (PT DV) for its failure to fulfill its promise to broadcast the English Premiere League (EPL) after its partnership with Malaysia's Astro All Asia Network Plc was terminated last month.

Representing the thousands of pay TV subscribers in the province, six people, accompanied by lawyers, filed the suit in the Surabaya District Court, demanding DV and its partners and executives pay fair compensation within 30 days as pledged.

The consumers said they could no longer watch their favorite soccer league matches and other programs, for which they had partly paid in advance and that they had not been informed the service had been terminated.

Kukuh Pramono Budi, who accompanied the subscribers to court Friday, said the class action was filed against DV, DV president director Melia Concap Cion Molato, DV directors Sean Dent and Paul Montolalu, Astro All Asia Network Plc Ltd (AAAN), Measat Broadcast System SDN Bhd, which owns Astro, and All Asia Multimedia Networks.

The class action comes after consumers in Jakarta, Depok and Bogor filed a similar motion in the South Jakarta District Court on Oct. 29.

"The subscribers are acting on behalf of themselves and all subdscribers in the province," said Kukuh.

"Our clients decided to subscribe to Astro because the latter declared its ability (to broadcast the EPL) and claimed to have signed a contract for the EPL for three consecutive years, but ... the promise is broken and after one year, they can no longer watch their favorite programs."

Through the class action, the former subscribers asked the court to order the defendants to jointly pay back the cost of the cable box installation, worth Rp 200,000 (US$14.92), and the provider transfer fee of Rp 500,000 after consumers switched to Astro and also pay Rp 1 million in material losses for the termination of the pay TV channel.

Kukuh said DV had pledged to refund all fees paid in advance within 30 days "but in fact our clients were not informed of the termination and their fees have not been repaid".

He also accused DV of lying about the number of its subscribers, which reached 145,000 nationwide in 2007. The pay TV operator said recently it would provide refunds for 36,000 of its total 98,000 subscribers nationwide.

Earlier, in September, Astro decided not to renew its contract with DV -- which is 49 percent owned by PT Ayunda Prima Mitra, a Lippo Group unit through PT First Media -- over allegations the latter had failed to pay a $245 million bill.

Astro, which has no stake in DV, said the bill included interest on all outstanding payments due since March 2005.

However, Ayunda's lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea earlier denied that DV owed the stated amount, saying "it was an investment fund required to be paid by Astro".

"It is clearly stated on the joint venture agreement that the amount of money is an investment, not a debt. If it is a debt, Astro and DV should have signed an agreement about that," he said.

On Oct. 6, Astro filed a notice of arbitration with the Singapore International Arbitration Center against a number of companies under the Lippo Group to help recover the amount owing.

According to recent media reports, the breakup of Astro's joint venture is the latest in a series of business rows between the Lippo Group -- now under the helm of James Riady -- and the Malaysian business group controlled by high-profile tycoon Ananda Krishnan.

In 2004, Astro was invited by Lippo to become a strategic partner in DV. The two companies entered into an agreement on March 11, 2005, for the establishment of a joint venture to operate a cable TV business in Indonesia through DV.

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