The Hindu : New Delhi News : Few feel the pinch in Capital

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

New Delhi

New Delhi

Few feel the pinch in Capital

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, AUG. 17. While the All India Cable TV Forum claimed that 85 per cent of Delhi was "blacked out" due to the call for an indefinite strike across the country, few of the Capital's residents appear to have felt the pinch. Though the strike meant that television sets here would only receive four news channels, transmission across most of Delhi continued without interruption, including for the paid channels. While the forum claimed that only a number of direct operators in New Delhi and Vasant Vihar area did not participate in the strike, in most areas like South Delhi, South West Delhi and New Delhi, the call for the strike appears to have been largely ignored.

"We have not been providing the link since 7 a.m. All our distributors are also participating in the strike. But in some other areas, the distributors under particular multi-system providers did not heed the strike call. Also, most independent operators are continuing to provide all the channels," said Mukesh Verma of Siti Cable, asserting that the strike would continue for at least another three to four days. For some residents in East, West, Central and North Delhi, the day began on a bleak note as only four news channels were being received. "We have not been receiving any of the pay channels since the morning. Earlier in the day, we were not even getting some of the news channels, but now we are getting the local cable channel as well," said Pratima Joshi, a resident of Minto Road. A fate similar to a few localities in Mayur Vihar as well. However, in most areas in other parts of Delhi, transmission was normal. "We did not even realise that there was a strike. There was no problem with our network even in the morning. We have been receiving the network through most of the day. We were able to watch all the channels, including the pay channels," said Mukesh Bhargava, a resident of Saket. However, even though the strike seemed a non-starter in most areas, many Delhiites do not agree with the strike call. "Though we have been getting all the channels, there is absolutely no reason why they should go on strike. I don't want to pay more to the cable operators. The subscribers can hardly do anything about the cable or the channels they receive. I don't want to pay anymore because it isn't as if the service is improving anyway," said Shruti Debi, a resident of Alaknanda.

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