News I&B Ministry seeks Rs 2000 cr in licence fee from 6 DTH cos

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The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has asked six DTH operators, including market leaders Tata Sky and Dish TV, to pay over Rs 2,000 crore, which the ministry said they collectively owe to the government in lieu of the licence fee.

The ministry sent demand notices on Friday to Tata Sky, Dish TV, Sun Direct, Airtel Digital TV, Reliance Digital TV and Videocon D2H, asking them to pay up the sum within 15 days. This followed a ministry-ordered independent audit of the accounts of the six operators.

"The ministry has given 15 days to all the operators to make the payment," a person familiar with the development said.

The calculation has been made on the basis of the gross revenue of each operator. The time period for calculating the arrears is from the day the licences were issued to each of them. "The I&B ministry sought the opinion of the law ministry before sending out the notices," this person said.

The issue relating to licence fee payment has been going on between the ministry and the operators for a few years now. The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) had, in a 2010 order, said DTH operators should pay 10 percent of their adjusted gross revenue as licence fee. The ministry had taken the matter to the Supreme Court where the case is pending.


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DTH operators to challenge I&B Ministry’s notice on arrears


Operators of private direct-to-home (DTH) platforms, who recently received a notice from the government with regard to licence fee dues amounting to Rs 2,066 crore, plan to challenge the notice on the ground that the matter is subjudice and is pending in the Supreme Court.

However, the DTH Operators Association of India is yet to decide whether the challenge will be in the form of a reply to the Ministry or an application in Court.

According to the notice sent earlier this week, the six private operators have been asked to pay the amount within fifteen days.

However, most of the operators contacted by indiantelevision.com said they had cleared the dues of licence fee.

The operators say the licence fee as demanded under the rules is on gross revenue (GR) whereas they have been asked to pay the fee on the basis of actual gross revenue (AGR). The operators have said the fee should be only on subscription revenue and not on allied earnings such as dividend and interest income.


DTH operators to challenge I&B Ministry’s notice on arrears | Indian Television Dot Com