Gurbani broadcast: CJ resents exclusive rights to one channel

“Gurbani is Guru ki baani. Why can’t it be seen by everybody? Why is it being restricted to only one broadcast?” Justice Vijender Jain asked.

On the other hand, expressing regret over the commercialisation, Justice K S Ahluwalia observed that every person has the right to see Gurbani and it should reach everywhere. Taking a dig at the issue, Justice Vijender Jain remarked, “We very well understand the motive behind giving exclusive rights of airing Gurbani to only one broadcast. We know how many subscribers the broadcast will get by selling Gurbani. Its should be free to air. Why do I have to subscribe for Gurbani to hear it?”

The counsel representing the SGPC has been directed to seek instructions from the SGPC over the exclusive rights given to only one broadcast. The SGPC has been directed to consider the matter within a period of ten days. The directions were passed in wake of a petition filed by Tata Sky Limited, Mumbai, and Gurinder Singh, Mohali.

Notices were issued to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Limited (TRAI); ETC, Punjabi channel; Zee Turner Limited; SGPC, Amritsar, over the petition. Tata Sky Limited has demanded directions from the court for TRAI to discharge its obligations forthwith under the TRAI Act to ensure level playing field conditions, including fixing context tariffs for Direct to Home (DTH) platform.

The petitioner has taken the stand that DTH is a fully addressable platform and is entitled to equal treatment at par with other addressable platforms such as CAS, which is necessary to create competition. DTH was conceived of as an alternate content delivery platform to offer and provide competition to the existing cable TV dominance.