Malé, Maldives – Civil Court of Maldives has issued an interim order to maintain the DhiraaguTV’s license until the court decides on the case filed by Dhiraagu over Maldives Broadcasting Commissions (MBC) decision not to renew their license.
Section 8 of the revised Licensing Rules for Rebroadcasting of Maldives Broadcasting Commissions (MBC) states that the applicant for rebroadcast should be a 100% Maldivian-owned company.
With Bahrain company, BTC Islands Limited (Batelco) holding 52% of the shares, when Dhiraagu applied for renewal of the rebroadcasting license on July 7 this year, MBC decided that the license could not be renewed under the new amendment.
The company has filed a civil suit against the Broadcom following the matter.
In the suite, Dhiraagu claims that the Broadcasting Commission’s decision not to renew the license of DhiraaguTV was in violation of Article 28 of the Broadcasting Act.
In addition, Dhiraagu has applied for the renewal of the rebroadcasting license within the period stipulated in the Broadcasting Act and the suit seeks an order against the Broadcasting Commission to renew the license of Dhiraagu TV.
The civil court issued the interim order saying that Dhiraagu had made a substantial investment in bringing in the rebroadcasting service and the transaction involved third party rights.
Dhiraagu has previously stated that they remained hopeful to renew DhiraaguTV’s rebroadcasting license despite the restrictions due to the changes brought to the regulation by Maldives Broadcasting Commission (MBC).
