Msm Discovery Pvt Ltd v. New Delhi Television Ltd & Ors

SANJIV KHANNA, J.

CHIEF JUSTICE FEBRUARY 21st, 2011 KKB

* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI + LPA NO. 44 of 2011 Judgment reserved on: 18th February, 2011 % Date of Decision: 21st February, 2011 MSM Discovery Pvt. Ltd. ....Appellant Through Mr. Aman Lekhi, Sr. Advocate with Mr. Abhishek Malhotra, Mr. A.J. Bhambhani, Mr. Nitin Bhatia, Mr. Victor Ahanthem & Ms. Sahana Basavapatna, Advocates. VERSUS New Delhi Television Ltd. & Ors. …..Respondents Through Mr. Maninder Singh, Sr. Advocate with Mr. Kaushik Mishra, Adv. for Respondent No. 1. Mr. Ramji Srinivasan and Mr. S. Ganesh, Sr. Advocates with Mr. Gaurav Juneja and Mr. Zeyaul Haque and Mr. Anjum Natrajan For respondent NO. 2. Mr. Ruchir Mishra, Advocate for respondent 3. CORAM: HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJIV KHANNA 1. Whether Reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment? 2. To be referred to the Reporter or not ? YES 3. Whether the judgment should be reported YES in the Digest ? Sanjiv Khanna, J. The appellant MSM Discovery Pvt. Ltd. has filed a petition before Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT, for short) under the Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable Services) Interconnection Order 2004, against the New Delhi Television Limited and Star Den Media Services Private Limited, respondents 1 and 2 respectively, praying for the following reliefs:- "i. Hold and declare that the Distribution Term Sheet dated 01.04.2005 and its Amendments dated 29.08.07 and 01.04.2009 respectively (Agreement between the petitioner and the respondent No. 1 is valid, binding and subsisting between the parties; ii. Direct respondent No. 1 to continue to perform and discharge its obligations under the Agreement till the expiration of the term of the Agreement, i.e., till 31.03.2012; iii. Restrain respondent No. from unlawfully terminating the Agreement; iv. Restrain respondent No. 1 from creating any third party interest or rights in respect of the subject matter of the Agreement, including in favour of Respondent No. 2; v. Restrain Respondent No. from interfering with the petitioner's rights under and during the term of the Agreement, i.e., till 31.03.2012. vi. Pass such further orders as this Hon'ble Tribunal deems fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case." 2. The appellant had also filed an application for interim relief praying for interim injunction restraining the respondent No. 1 from terminating the agreement dated 1st April, 2005 as amended on 29th August, 2007 and 1st April, 2009 and for restraining the respondent No. 1 from creating any third party interest or rights, including rights in favour of respondent No. 2, in respect of the said agreement during the term of the agreement i.e. till 31st March, 2012. 3. Interim application came up for hearing before TDSAT on 14th December, 2010 and was rejected with reasons to follow. Thereafter reasons were incorporated in the order dated 16th December, 2010. The orders were made subject matter of challenge before the learned Single Judge in Writ Petition (C) No. 8585/2010 but without success as the writ petition and the applications have been dismissed vide order dated 22nd December, 2010. These orders have now been made subject matter of the present Intra Court Appeal. 4. The appellant is a company and is engaged in the business of aggregating content of different television channels by entering into contracts with them and it also enters into licensing and sub-licensing agreements with Multi System Operators (MOSs), Cable Operators, Direct to Home operators, etc. for distribution of the channels. 5. In 2003, the appellant and respondent No. 1 entered into an agreement and executed a Distribution Term Sheet (DTS, for short) dated 11th February, 2003 under the which the appellant agreed to distribute channels "NDTV Profit" and "NDTV 24x7" in various platforms. On 1st April, 2005, this agreement was replaced by a new DTS and the channel "NDTV India" was added. This DTS was to commence on 1st April, 2005 and to terminate