TEAM HERALD
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PANJIM: The Tourism Ministry has intervened to resolve the on-going tussle between hoteliers and channel broadcasters over broadcasting programmes on Cable TV, and has asked the Home Department and departments to find solutions, to stop harassment being inflicted on the hotel industry by agents of Cable TV broadcasters.
The Director of Tourism, Nikhil Desai Wednesday said that the department has received a representation from the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) over the unauthorized and illegal action being taken against hoteliers by agents of TV channel broadcasters allegedly demanding exorbitant sums of money for broadcasting channel programmes in their hotel rooms.
TTAG has complained that criminal cases are being filed against hoteliers under the Copyrights Act which they claim, is not applicable to them in any way. “They have a valid point,” said the director adding that the neighbouring Maharashtra has also taken steps to resolve a similar issue there that Goa is also looking at working out solutions on similar lines.
“Steps have to be taken to ensure that the hoteliers are not harassed by such agents of TV channel broadcasters,” the director said.
President of TTAG Francis Braganza said, “There is no criminal offence committed by the hoteliers as they receive signals from authorized cable operators on payment of a fee and the hoteliers are not committing any offences under Sections 63 and 69 of the Copyright Act for infringement of copyright or under Section 379 of the Indian Penal Code for theft.”
According to Braganza, there are various judgments supporting his claim such as Supreme Court judgment reported in AIR 2007 SC 1168 which clearly stated that the signal sent by the cable operators are received by the hoteliers who are the ultimate subscribers and that the hotels do not retransmit the signals to any other person implying there is no offence.
Citing the TDSAT judgment of July 2011 which clearly stated that there is no infringement of any law by the hoteliers and if at all there is a dispute, the same is a civil dispute between the broadcasters and cable operators and the recipients of signal were not committing any offence as long as the signal were transmitted by authorized cable operators against payment of fees.
Likewise the Bombay High Court judgments of July 19, 2012 had ordered that the police authorities shall not take any coercive action in such matters and further stayed all acts under the FIRs lodged based upon the above cited judgment of the Supreme Court.
TTAG has also produced a circular by the Maharashtra Police dated June 22, 2009 by which all police stations in Maharashtra were ordered not to assist the agents of the broadcasters and not to register any complaints against the hoteliers.
