The Hindu : New Delhi News : Strike successful, claim cable operators

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

New Delhi

New Delhi

Strike successful, claim cable operators

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 country-wide 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 MSOs and cable television operators are agitating against the Budget proposal to bring them under the service tax net and increase it from 8 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. It were 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. According to Mr. Goel, in States like 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 South, the strike was complete in Andhra Pradesh and also in Bangalore. "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. In Mumbai, where the strike was partial, two major MSOs have decided to joint the indefinite strike from tomorrow. We are in touch with other operators also and hope that many more will join the agitation," he added.

Stating that they have so far not received any communication from the Government, Mr. Goel said the Forum would continue their strike till their demands were met. "We are constantly in touch with all MSOs and cable television operators. Today we held a meeting and took stock of the situation. We have decided not to budge this time as it was difficult to sustain under increased financial burden of taxes. If the Government wants this industry to survive, it should immediately come out with some clear cut policy," said Mr. Goel.

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