Cable TV distribution major hauls local operators to court

Vadodara: At a time when cable television is almost on the brink of becoming history, city seems to be witnessing a fresh cable war.
In what appears to be an attempt to retain existing customers, a cable television operator in Manjalpur area of Vadodara has been giving new set-top boxes and additional number of channels to its customers. While sources claim that this may be a strategy to stop people moving onto other television platforms including DTH and fibre optic network, it is being done illegally and allegedly for ‘personal gains’ only.
However, to restrain this operator and also other operators from indulging in such illegal competition in cable business, Den Networks Ltd and Fortune (Baroda) Network Pvt Ltd (FNPL) have moved court against nine cable operators in Manjalpur. These nine operators hold 49% in FNPL holdings. The nine cable operators and Den Network Ltd had formed FNPL as a joint venture (JV) company in 2008 to provide cable television services in Manjalpur area. While the agreement signed at the time of forming the JV restrains any competitive business by any of the parties, one of the cable operators – Kirit Patel – started promoting cable television services of New Delhi-based Infiniti Television and Telecom Pvt Ltd, and also Indore-based ACN Digital Pvt Ltd in the city. “The cable operators, who are the shareholders, cannot engage in any competing business directly or indirectly as per the agreement so what has happened so far is a clear breach of it,” said FNPL and Den Network’s advocate Jaideep Verma. He added that the court has admitted the petition and had also served notices to the respondents. The next hearing will take place on March 2.
According to the case presented by FNPL and Den Network, Patel assured customers and other cable operators that the two competing companies’ services are trustworthy and better compared to FNPL’s and Den Network’s. He even got set-top boxes changed without the customers’ permission. Earlier the cable television subscribers had Den Network’s set-top boxes but after Patel’s collusion with the competing companies, the customers got set-top boxes of ACN Digital Pvt Ltd.
The petition states that Patel colluded with the New Delhi company and became its director. The New Delhi company is a majority shareholder in the ACN Digital.