The Hindu : National : Cable TV strike widespread in north

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 18, 2004

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National

Cable TV strike widespread in north

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, AUG. 17. The All-India Cable TV Forum, a group of multi-system operators (MSOs) and cable operators, that had called for an indefinite countrywide strike, today claimed that the cable television service was blacked out not only in Delhi but in almost all the northern States and in major cities in the south and east. The television operators are agitating against the Budget proposal to bring them under the service tax net and increase it from eight to 10 per cent.

"In Delhi, over 85 per cent of households failed to receive cable television channels, except for the four news channel that were kept out of the stir. Only a couple of direct cable operators in New Delhi and Vasant Vihar area, who are already charging more from subscribers, stayed away from the strike," claimed the forum's president, Jawahar Goel.

In Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan, the strike evoked a good response where over 80 per cent of households failed to receive transmission, while in the south, the strike was complete in Andhra Pradesh and in Bangalore, he said.

"In Kolkata, cable television operators called off their strike this evening after the State Government met the MSOs and assured them of some positive announcement soon.

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