Gujarat High Court Quashes FIR Over Cable Operators, Says Spillover Beyond Area Is Regulatory Dispute

The Gujarat High Court on 24 September quashed an FIR against cable operators accused of transmitting Zee and Turner pay channels beyond their licensed area, holding that the dispute concerned regulatory and commercial conditions rather than criminal

Justice P. M. Raval held that transmitting cable signals across regulatory boundaries created under administrative and telecom regulations did not, by itself, constitute a criminal offence under the

The FIR was registered at Kamrej Police Station, Surat, in December 2014 on a complaint by an IPR consultant representing Taj Television (India) Pvt. Ltd., which distributes Zee and Turner channels. It invoked Sections 63, 65 and 69 of the

It alleged that Dev Shree Cable Network was licensed to broadcast only in Surat city, while Shivam Cable Network took a connection from Dev Shree and transmitted the channels to Kathor village, outside the licensed area. The consultant claimed that he stayed at a hotel in Kathor and recorded the channels on his phone.

These included Cartoon Network, HBO, CNN International, Zee Cinema and Ten Cricket. The cable operators argued that the alleged transmission beyond the licensed area amounted to a breach of cable and telecom regulations, not