The Hindu : New Delhi News : Smooth sailing so far for CAS

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 12, 2007
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New Delhi

New Delhi

Smooth sailing so far for CAS

Staff Reporter

But TV viewers opting for DTH have another story to tell

NEW DELHI: The cable operator may not have been the most popular guy in the city, but he seems to have done quite well in the newly introduced Conditional Access System (CAS) regime here in South Delhi. With the help line set up by the Delhi Government receiving 25 to 30 calls daily -- most of them rectifiable -- it seems South Delhi residents don't seem to be in a complaining mood as yet, at least about their cable operators.

"The help line was set up on December 15. Most of the queries at that time were about the pricing of channels. After December 31, there have been calls about the functioning of set-top boxes. Since there are two remotes now to operate the television, people are getting confused," says Sanjeev Khirwar, the nodal officer for Delhi.

While there have been other complaints about set-top boxes not being available, officials point out this is due to "bunching" of requests after December 31. Trying to overcome these obstacles, officials are contacting local cable operators -- where the complaint is made -- and putting them in touch with customers to iron out differences.

However, TV watchers who have chosen Direct-To-Home have another story to tell. With no regulatory authority for DTH as yet, viewers seem to find it tough to be able to get their complaints attended to. "I bought TataSky because I trusted the name. But I found the service was unlike a Tata product. There is no one who seems accountable. After using it for a few days, I found that I couldn't watch TV because the coupon expired much earlier that it was supposed to. I was forced to put in another recharge coupon. But even that stopped working. In effect, my TataSky connection ran only for 12 days after my paying over Rs.8,000 for it," rues Atul Cowshish, a resident of Press Enclave.

He was forced to call up a number in Chandigarh to get some response. "The Customer Care executive told me that she couldn't help and I had to contact my local dealer," he said.

There are other residents in the same locality with similar complaints.

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