The court also asked the cable service providers not to flash messages saying movie channels were off the air pursuant to the High Court order.
MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday asked cable operators in Mumbai and rest of Maharashtra to stop screening a message that certain movie channels are off the air due to the High Court's order.
"This is a clear misrepresentation of the High Court's order to the consumers at large," Division Bench of Justice RM Lodha and Justice SA Bobde ruled.
The court made it clear that though by its August 23 order it put the onus of implementing Cable Television Networks Act 1995 on broadcaster (alongwith cable service providers), it never banned the movie channels themselves.
The channels are only expected not to show the films which have not got U (Universal) or U/A (Universal/Adult) certificate from Censor Board, the court clarified.
After High Court's order to the police to implement the Cable Television Networks Act -- which disallows airing of movies with A certificate -- police raided cable operator's offices and seized decoders of nine movie channels.
Following the order and police crack down, in many parts of the city and even in other parts of the state, channels such as HBO, Star Movies, etc went off the air.
In their place, the cable operators are showing the message that this channel was not available "pursuant to the Honourable Bombay High Court's order".
One Rajnikant Gaikwad, claiming to represent cable TV viewers, moved the High Court complaining that cable operators have blacked out the movie channels, and misleading the people by airing a message that it was due to High Court's order.
Gaikwad also sought a direction to the cable service providers to resume airing movie channels.
But the counsel of Hathway, a multi-service operator (MSO), argued that MSOs as well as cable operators were blacking out movie channels because they did not want to violate High Court's order in any manner.
The counsels of various movie channels, who were present in the court, showed willingness to give an undertaking to the court that they would not air adult movies, so that MSOs and cable operators need not fear breach of court's order.
The channels also undertook to provide MSOs/cable operators with new decoders -- as police have sealed their decoders in previous action.
But the court held that channels need to make a written application in this regard, only after which the court would consider this issue.
Petitioner Pratibha Naithani's counsel M P Vashi vehemently opposed the channels' proposal to provide new decoders -- saying that this would render police's earlier action against erring cable operators meaningless.
The judges did not agree with Vashi's argument, saying that court can not stop movie channels from carrying on their legitimate business.
No order has been passed on this issue yet. The movie channels are expected to give their undertakings to the court on Thursday.
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