HYDERABAD: In a relief to the Centre and the governments of AP and Telangana, a division bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Thursday dismissed a PIL which challenged the authorities’ action of compelling cable TV subscribers to buy set-top box (STBs) and threatening operators that they should not carry on the existing analogue form of transmission of television programmes.
The bench of acting chief justice Ramesh Ranganathan and justice Shameem Akther was refusing to intervene in the decision taken by the authorities with regard to STBs. It said it cannot find fault with the decision of the authorities on the matter. During the course of hearing earlier, the petitioner, Citizens Welfare Society of Hyderabad, had submitted that the authorities were threatening that if the subscribers did not buy STBs for their TVs, there would be no transmission. As a result, cable TV mode will not be available. The action of the authorities in forcibly bringing in digital transmission of TV programmes in place of the analogue form of transmission through cable TV mode is illegal, it contended.
The Centre defended its decision to bring in digital transmission of TV programmes in place of analogue form through cable TV mode. Already, two phases have been completed, it noted.