The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Hathway plays truant, blackout stumps cricket lovers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Dec 23, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Hathway plays truant, blackout stumps cricket lovers

By V.V. Subrahmanyam

HYDERABAD, DEC. 22. Sachin Tendulkar got his highest test score and equalled Sunil Gavaskar's record. Rahul Dravid got a world record for scoring centuries in all test playing countries. Irfan Pathan took five wicket hauls thrice.

The Test matches might have been against Bangladesh, but there were many memorable moments in the series that cricket lovers in the city missed out on. It was darkness all through for them and for no fault of theirs, as the cable network, Hathway, blacked out sports channels -- ESPN and Star Sports.

If the blackout continues, it will be the turn of hockey lovers to miss the prestigious Premier Hockey League scheduled to commence at the Gachibowli Hockey Complex next month. The reason - payment dispute between Hathway and the sports channels. The cable network is supposed to pay Rs. 2.5 crores to ESPN-Star Sports for telecasting events live in the channel(s) ever since it entered into a contract with them in December 2003 for about a year.

Himanshu Varma, Director, Corporate Communications & Event Management, ESPN-Star Sports, insists that Hathway should clear all dues before reaching any amicable settlement as it has the moral obligation to pay Rs. 39.70 per cable connection.

"Till date, we have no clue on the precise number of cable connections in the twin cities and we have not increased the subscription fee as is being alleged," he says.

Total monopoly

The problem is unique to Hyderabad as Hathway has a virtual monopoly and the subscriber has no other cable platform to go to during such blackouts.

Not the first time

This is not the first time that subscribers in the twin cities have missed live sports action. The Euro- 2004 football tournament by Ten Sports, too, was taken off the air for some days before better sense prevailed.

Local cable operators are simply brushing away responsibility by blaming the network. "We are holding discussions to end the stalemate. We are optimistic of coming out with an alternative plan," says Mr. Himanshu. Hathway cable network officials were unavailable for comment.

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