The Competition Commission of India has imposed a penalty of Rs 8.4 crore on multi system operator, Fast Way Group, for abusing its dominant position in cable television service in Punjab and Haryana.

CCI passed the order acting on a complaint by Kansan News Private Ltd, a broadcaster of news and current affairs TV channel known as ‘Day and Night News’. It has operations in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh.

The Commission has imposed penalty on the group entities including Fast Way Transmission, Hathway Sukhamrit Cable & Datacom, and Creative Cable Network at the rate of six per cent of their average turnover in the last three preceding financial years.

The Commission held that the Fast Way Group has more than 85 per cent of the total subscribers in Punjab and Chandigarh.

Due to this, almost all broadcasters, including the informant, are dependent upon their network. Consumers of cable TV in Punjab and Chandigarh also have huge dependency on the Fast Way Group.

“…They do not have any effective substitute to switch over to the other network. Abusing its market power, the Fast Way Group has denied the informant the opportunity for transmission of its channel on its network and thereby has effectively denied it access to the market,” CCI said in its order.

The anti-monopoly watchdog has directed the multi service operator to deposit the penalty amount within 90 days. 

It also directed the contravening entities to ‘cease and desist’ from indulging in anti-competitive practices, which have the effect of denial of market access as discussed in the order.

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