MUMBAI: Things seemed to be moving in the HT Media vs T-Series legal tussle. HT Media had last year filed a complaint  with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against T-Series alleging that the latter was charging unreasonable royalties to radio casters for music being played on their stations.

According to a source in HT Media, the CCI called in the  company's representative to hear its point of view yesterday.  " The investigation is at a  very preliminary stage  and a  formal inquiry is yet to commence,” the official said.

The complaint filed last year alleged  that  T-Series was abusing its dominant position and not following the 2% royalty ruling of the Copyright Board.  HT Media had said that  the music major was charging the same old rate of Rs  660 per needle hour, which is four times higher than the 2% royalty rate. Fever FM is the radio arm of HT Media, which operates FM stations in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata.

T-Series which owns 80 per cent music rights of new films, had sought an interim order from the Delhi court in 2010 that the rates fixed by the Copyright Board shall not apply to the royalty rates of Super Cassettes Industries Limited.