ABP News Network, Republic TV complain to TRAI about Aaj Tak’s dual LCN presence

ABP News Network and ARG Outlier Media Asianet News have complained to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) about Aaj Tak’s placement on two frequencies.

In a letter to TRAI secretary, Republic TV owner ARG Outlier has stated that the India Today Group is violating regulations by placing Aaj Tak on its own LCN besides that of its other channel Tez.

ABP News Network also confirmed that it has complained about Aaj Tak dual LCN violation to the TRAI.

“We are writing to you to inform you about the flagrant violation done by the India Today Group with a tweet to their news channel Aaj TAK. They have been making available the channel on its own frequency and also on the frequency allotted to Tez News. Availability of the channel on two LCNs violate TRAIs Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable Services) Interconnection (Digital Addressable Cable Television Systems) Regulations 2012 and TRAI’s directions, vide press release titled ‘Listing of TV channels on Electronic Programme Guide’ dated May 31, 2017,” ARG Outlier said in its letter to TRAI.

It further stated that this unethical method of dual LCN is exploitative and is detrimental to other channels or the same genre. “We would also like to point out that this dual placement is also violative of the license terms of MIB which all channels require before they operate. The MIB license clearly mentions the channel name, genre and satellite placement terms. We request you to kindly look into this urgently and take stringent action against the erring channel,” it noted.