No relief to cable operators from Kerala HC; next hearing on Wednesday

New Delhi: The Kerala High Court after hearing the petition filed by All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF) against TRAI posted the matter for next hearing on Wednesday, February 22 after the arguments in the matter remained inconclusive. 

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The hearing will begin at 3.30 pm on Wednesday, Justice Shaji P Chaly said after hearing both the parties.

The court started hearing the submissions on Monday and the arguments will continue for the third day in a row.

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AIDCF concluded its argument today urging the high court to protect it and its consumers from switching off the channels by broadcasters, like Star, Sony and Zee, till its plea challenging NTO 3.0 was decided.

The respondent, TRAI, in its argument, told the court that the petition of the cable operators was not maintainable on the grounds that nothing has changed on the ground as the industry was following the 2017 regulation, which mandated the price cap of Rs 19.

The Rs 12 cap on MRP introduced in NTO 2.0 was never implemented and hence the argument of hiking the cap from Rs 12 to Rs 19 does not hold any ground.