Madikeri: The deputy commissioner of Kodagu has directed five local cable TV channels to stop transmission since they have not registered themselves under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995. Accordingly, all the five channels have been taken off the air from Monday.
A compalint was registered by V S Soorya, a resident of Gonikoppa, in the court of the deputy commissioner claiming that these channels had not registered themselves under the law and hence cannot air any programme.
He had said that the unregistered channels, operating under the name of Kodagu Media Services, were airing films and film songs without obtaining copyrights. The operator does not issue receipts for the money collected from the subscribers and had been evading payment of service tax and entertainment tax, Soorya had claimed in his complaint filed on December 29, 2014.
Deputy Commissioner Anurag Tewari had directed the assistant commissioner to seize the equipment used for transmission. Accordingly, the equipment were seized on Monday. However, the transmission of satellite TV channels continues unaffected.
