The Bombay High Court will pronounce its judgment in the NTO 2.0 challenge by broadcasters on 24th August. TRAI will hold on until then and refrain from taking coercive action against those broadcasters who haven’t complied with the 24th July directive.
The bench of Justices A.A.Sayed and Anuja Prabhudessai earlier today heard the petitions from Film and Television Producers Guild of India, Zee Entertainment, Sony Pictures Network India, Indian Broadcasting Foundation, Disney India, NGC Network India, Asianet Star Communications, Star India, and TV18 Broadcast Limited which had challenged NTO 2.0 which had been reserved for order in March.
According to a source close to the development, the matter has been simply adjourned to 24th August when the court will pronounce its judgment. The court had earlier in March reserved its order in the case with the judgment expected to be pronounced shortly. The judgment however didn’t come with COVID-19 induced lockdown following. TV18 and ZEE moved back Bombay HC recently following TRAI’s directive on 24th July.
The increasing regulatory vacuum forced TRAI to vacate the status quo and come out with the NTO 2.0 directive. TRAI will wait until the judgment comes and refrain from any action against the broadcasters who haven’t published their NTO 2.0 RIOs.
As of now, as per our understanding, at least five broadcasters have publicly complied with NTO 2.0 namely Mavis Satcom, CSL Infomedia, IN10 Media, Odisha TV, and Lex Sportel Vision. The rest seemingly will await the judgment from Bombay HC which is on the horizon.
