A petition has been filed against Star India and channels from Discovery Networks seeking the termination of their transmission licences, as the companies charge a subscription and are also supported by ads, reports Bar and Bench. According to the petition, the license granted to Star and Discovery prescribes compliance with Programme and Advertisement Code, which says a channel can either be advertisement supported or subscription supported but not both. And if a channel is advertisement supported, it has to conform to the 12-minute per hour cap for advertisements. It added that the channels are violating the 12-minute per hour cap for advertisements in India, but comply with the regulatory framework about the duration of ads in other countries. Accordingly, the Delhi High Court has issued notice to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B), 21st Century Fox (Star India) and Discovery Network Asia Pacific (Discovery). The petition is filed by Vikki Choudhry and Home Cable Network Private Ltd. Star India has 14 pay channels and Discovery Networks Asia Pacific is 100% subsidiary of Discovery Communications Inc. with 8 pay channels. Choudhry had filed an online RTI application earlier with the I&B Ministry to understand the action that was being taken against the Pay TV broadcasters. The ministry had replied that it is bound to take punitive action as per law. More details from the petition - The petition argues that the subscribers have a fundamental right to protection from the dual burden of either watching the commercial ads and not pay any subscription or…
