Order under Section 27 of the Competition Act, 2002

1. The present matter relates to information filed under section 19 (1)(a) of the Competition Act, 2002 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act) on 20.04.2012 by Shri Sajjan Khaitan, Proprietor, Heart Video (hereinafter referred to as the 'Informant') against the President, Eastern India Motion Picture Association, General Secretary, Co-ordination Committee of Artistes and Technicians of West Bengal Film and Television Industry, Mr. Kunal Ghosh of M/s Channel 10 and Mr. Sanjoy Das of CTVN PLUS channel (hereinafter referred to as the OP-1, OP-2, OP-3 and OP-4 respectively) alleging that the Opposite Parties have contravened the provisions of the Act.

2. The Informant is engaged in the business of distributing video cinematographic TV serials and telecasting regional serials in the States of Eastern India. Eastern India Motion Picture Association (OP-1) is a regional association of the film producers, distributors and exhibitors having its office at Kolkata and operates mainly in the State of West Bengal. Coordination Committee (OP-2) is the joint platform of 'Federation of Cine Technicians and Workers of Eastern India' and 'West Bengal Motion Pictures Artistes Forum' to coordinate amongst various stakeholders including producers' associations and affiliated bodies. Channel 10 (OP-3) is a 24-hours News- cum- Entertainment channel in Bengali, owned by M/s Bengal Media Pvt. Ltd., a company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956. CTVN Plus (OP-4) is a television channel owned by M/s Calcutta Television Network Private Limited, Kolkata, a private limited company registered under the Companies Act 1956.

3. The facts and allegations of the case, in brief, as mentioned in the information, are as under:-

3.1 As per the information, M/s B.R. TV, Mumbai, producer of the TV serial 'Mahabharata' entrusted sole and exclusive rights to M/s Magnum TV Serials to dub the Hindi version of the said serial in Bengali language and for exploiting its Satellite, Pay TV, DTH, IPTV, Video, Cable TV and Internet Rights till September 2016. The Informant was appointed sub- assignor by M/s Magnum TV Serials. Accordingly, the said serial was dubbed by the informant.

3.2 The Informant executed an agreement for Time Slot on Revenue Sharing basis for the telecast of aforesaid dubbed serial with M/s. Bengal Media Private Ltd, Kolkata (owner of 'Channel 10') and Calcutta Television Network Private Ltd, Kolkata ('Owner of CTVN Plus Channel'). These two channels were given hard disks of four episodes of the serial on 02.02.2011 and 12.02.2011. Thereafter, an advertisement was placed in daily newspaper on 19.02.2011 that the serial would be shown on Channel 10 at 10 AM in the morning and on CTVN Plus at 10 PM every Sunday.

3.3 According to the Informant, on 18.02.2011, the OP-4 received a letter from the OP-2 to stop the telecast of the above serial. The Informant also received a letter from OP-1 on 01.03.2011 wherein he was directed to withdraw/stop the telecast of the serial. On same day i.e. 01.03.2011, OP-3 and OP-4 also received similar letters from the OP-2 and OP-1 respectively. On 11.03.2011, the OP-4 received another letter from OP-2 to stop the telecast of the serial.

3.4 As per the information, on 12.03.2011 and 14.03.2011, the OP-4 received letters from the OP-2 wherein the OP-4 was asked to stop the telecast of Mahabharata serial in the interest of healthy growth of film and television industry in West Bengal. It was also mentioned that the convention of restricting the telecast of Bengali dubbed National programs in Kolkata was prevailing for the last 13 years (from 1997 onwards). The said letter further mentioned that the OP-4 should stop telecast of the dubbed serial 'Mahabharata' by 17.03.2011, failing which it will have to face non-cooperation.

3.5 As per the Informant, on 15.04.2011, it was informed by the OP-4 that since the OP-2 was adamant to stop the telecast of the serial and OP-3 had also de