RaajjePLUS sues Broadcom over striking off license

RaajjePLUS has filed suit against Maldives Broadcasting Commission (MBC) over the Commission’s decision to revoke license granted to the station.

RaajjePLUS parent company R Productions said the case was filed citing license was revoked against procedures.

RaajjePLUS lawyer Mohamed Nishan said the case was accepted by Civil Court on Sunday. The case had asked to overturn MBC decision.

The station began operations on September 8th; license was revoked October 25th.

The Commission said that RaajjePLUS license was terminated on the grounds that the company had not begun transmitting in the period provided to it after the license was granted. Therefore, the Commission could not review the case and there were no changes to the status quo that warranted a change to their initial decision.

However, a statement from R Productions claims that it acquired the license from Jotek Private Limited, which operated a channel called ‘Vai TV’ under the license, and therefore claimed that it cannot be terminated on the grounds of no transmission.

Further, R Productions had in September launched RaajjePlus which has been broadcasting via internet protocol television. While the commission's termination of the company’s license states that it had been given broadcasting license to transmit via satellite, R Productions claims that broadcasting laws only require that licensed broadcasters transmit within a 12-month period, and does not specify a format to deliver content on.

The station had filed case in MBC asking to review their decision but the Commission had refused to do so.