Andhra Pradesh - Guntur   

Cable TV war hots up in Guntur

By Our Staff Reporter

GUNTUR, OCT. 27. The cable TV tariff controversy took a turn on Wednesday with the in-charge district Collector, B. Janardhana Reddy, asking the Siti Cable management to restore the pay channels and conduct a scientific survey on the preference of subscribers on the pay channels to arrive at a decision.

After the meeting with the in-charge Collector, the Siti Cable management held an internal meeting with its franchisee local operators and decided to restore majority of the pay channels excepting the channels in `Star Package' bouquet. The restoration, however, came with a rider that instead of the Rs.125 suggested at the meeting with the Cable TV Network Users' Association, the Siti Cable operators would collect Rs.150 on November 1 in the areas where currently Rs.180 was being collected, the Siti Cable Managing Director, D. Krishna Mohan, said.

Siti Cable firm

The Siti Cable management stuck to its stand that unless the Conditional Access System was implemented, it was technically not feasible for the Multi-System-Operator (MSO) to segregate between pay channels providing connections and free-to-air service. The Siti Cable MD also clarified that charging people depending on their paying capacity was the norm followed all over the country in the industry, which was beneficial for the subscribers as it cross-subsidises help the MSO to provide service at a lower rate.

The bill collectors of the individual area operators would come to the subscribers in the first week seeking their opinion on retention of `pay chanels,' where the users would be asked to reply in `Yes' or `No', he added.

The Rs.150 per month tariff could be somewhat feasible and the demand of the association to provide the services at Rs.100 per month was Utopian, he observed.

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