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The Kerala High Court on Monday (September 28) permitted the petitioners to withdraw a plea challenging the proviso to Clause 5.4.1 of the TV Ratings Policy 2026 issued by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB). [2026 LiveLaw (Ker) 529]

According to this clause, viewership arising out of Landing Page shall not be counted in the viewership measurement and that Landing Page can be used only as a marketing tool. The Landing Page is the specific channel that gets displayed when a subscriber activates the set top box. It is activated by default and is not viewed by the scriber on his choice.

Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas today noted that a memo for withdrawing the plea has been filed by the petitioners, All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF) and DEN Network Ltd.

The petitioners also sought permission to prefer a fresh plea. The Court then dismissed the plea as withdrawn and granted liberty to file a fresh plea.

The MIB had issued the 2026 Policy vide an order dated March 27, 2026 for replacing the 2014 Policy Guidelines for Television Rating Agencies in India. The petitioners had contended that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India - TRAI's Landing Page Regulations was stayed by the Supreme Court in a 2020 order and that matter is currently pending therein. The Court had then granted an interim stay on the clause.

Later, the Court vacated its interim order, taking a prima facie view that TV rating is a policy matter to be decided by the government

Case No: WP(C) 17422/ 2026

Case Title: All India Digital Cable Federation and Anr. v. Union of India and Ors.

Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Ker) 529

Counsel for the petitioners: Arun Kathpalia (Sr.), M. Gopikrishnan Nambiar, K. John Mathai, Joson Manavalan, Kuryan Thomas, Paulose C. Abraham, Raja Kannan, Jai Mohan, Swapnil Gupta

Counsel for the respondents: P. Sreekumar - ASGI, Amal Parthasaradhy - CGC, Jaishankar V. Nair - SC - Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Mathew Nevin Thomas, Kurian Antony Mathew, Shinto Mathew Abraham, Joseph Kodianthara (Sr.), Abhishek Malhotra (Sr.)

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