Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd, the flagship company of the Zee Group, confirmed that it has filed a complaint against Den Networks.
It said the complaint referred to violations of the provisions of the Cable Television Networks Regulation Act, various Digital Addressable System rules and the Copyright Act.
“Such action by the company is in the normal course of business,” it added.
According to various media reports, Zee put in a complaint with the ministry of information and broadcasting in which it gave video recordings showing Den Networks allegedly violating India’s cable transmission laws.
In the complaint, Zee Entertainment is reported to have shown Den Networks transmitting channels in non-addressable mode in areas where such transmissions are banned.
According to India’s cable digitization rules, cable and DTH companies are not supposed to transmit television signals in a format that makes it impossible to know how many people are subscribed to a particular channel.
The rule was put into with a dual purpose of improving customer experience by enabling customized packs of channel for each subscriber, and to bring more transparency in the business and improve tax compliance.
Den has denied the allegations in media reports.
In its first official statement on the matter, Zee said the violations were discovered in its routine tests.
“The instances of violations and non -compliance(s) of DAS laws & Regulations were found during anti-piracy activities carried out by Zee, which it keeps on conducting from time to time in the normal course of its business,” it said.
The company reportedly alleged that Den, headed by SN Sharma, was also in violation of copyright laws.
Den had recently removed all Zee channels out of its various packs, and started selling them one by one. Typically, broadcasters don’t like their channels to be removed from packs and bouquets.