The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Visakhapatnam News : Cable operators `cut' rivals to size

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 21, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam

Cable operators `cut' rivals to size

By Santosh Patnaik

VISAKHAPATNAM, SEPT. 20. The infighting among cable TV operators in the city is taking an ugly shape with the cutting of cables by rivals becoming a regular feature.

With over a lakh connections shared equally by the master signal operators (MSOs) -- SitiCable, Excel and Cable Vision -- the cable war has become a headache for the police as well as the viewers.

Blackout

Owing to cutting of cables near Gurdwara, subscribers of Excel and Cable Vision networks had to face complete blackout in MVP Colony, Seethammadhara and other areas for several hours on Saturday and Sunday.

Inquiries by The Hindu reveal that the MSOs have given connections on sub-lease to about 230 operators. Excel, which entered the cable business four years ago, is the only MSO to provide Internet connections through cable.

Because of the "blame game" by the MSOs, the police had to issue notification under Section 107 of Indian Penal Code asking some operators and their staff to appear at the police stations concerned regularly.

Small players

Of late, small players like Krishna Vision and Sri Devi TV have also entered the business incurring the wrath of the big players. In some cases, the MSOs have tried to come to an agreement with the small players by bringing their connections to their fold so as to force subscribers to shell out higher monthly connection charges to watch certain pay channels.

While the small players provide about 30 free channels at a monthly charge of Rs. 30 to Rs. 60, the big operators collect around Rs. 200 under the pretext of paying hefty charges to beam pay channels like Sony and Star.

The war is taking a new turn with the attempts by the MSOs to conceal the actual number of house connections under their control. This is mainly happening to avoid payment of dues to the pay channels, which charge the MSOs every month on the basis of the total number of connections.

Umbrella policing

"It's not our job to provide umbrella policing. They (MSOs) themselves should have self-discipline to avoid poaching in their respective areas," the Commissioner of Police, B. Prasada Rao, said.

They should introduce some sort of bands, uniforms and identity cards to their electricians and workers so that it would be easy to identify if someone tried to cut cables, he felt. "For want of some identification mark, now it is difficult to identify persons who indulge in such nefarious practice," he said.

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