Karnataka High Court restrains Power TV channel from broadcasting till July 9 in absence of valid licence

The High Court of Karnataka has restrained Power TV channel from broadcasting activity till July 9 after noticing that the licence of the private Kannada television channel had expired in October 2021.

Justice S.R. Krishna Kumar passed the interim order on petitions filed by IPS officer B.R. Ravikanthe Gowda and former MLC H.M. Ramesh Gowda and his wife A. Ramya Ramesh.

The petitioners, who were “victims” of programmes aired by the television channel impacting their public image, had filed separate petitions complaining that the channel is being allowed to telecast programmes even though the licence had expired in October 2021 and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Central government had not renewed the licence.

The petitioners pointed out to the court that the channel was airing programmes even though the Ministry on February 6, 2024, issued show-cause notice to it for airing programmes sans licence. The channel violated the provisions of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act and the Rules, and the notified policy guidelines for uplinking and downlinking of television channels in India, the petitioners complained.

The advocate, appearing for Power TV and M/s. Mitcon Infraproject Pvt. Ltd., which was permitted in 2011 to uplink and downlink a news and current affairs TV channel namely ‘Power TV’ in accordance with the law, had claimed that its licence was renewed by submitting certain documents.

However, the court observed that perusal of documents “indicated that no renewal has been granted in favour of Power TV/Mitcon.” The Ministry also informed the court that proceedings had been initiated against the television channel and others and they have entered appearance in the said proceedings, which are pending consideration. The Hindu