VIJAYAWADA : Thanking the Centre for issuing an ordinance to enable rural people to watch the live telecast of cricket matches on Doordarshan, the Vijayawada Cable TV Consumers Association, a new outfit floated in the city, on Tuesday urged the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Priyaranjan Dasmunsi to develop the required infrastructure at the local Doordarshan Kendra.

Association president Vellanki Prasada Rao said at a meeting the Centre's decision to issue the ordinance had come as a boon to sports-lovers residing in rural areas.

Antenna needed

Till now, they were not able to watch the matches even if they had a cable connection. But now that the matches would be telecast on DD Saptagiri, DD News and Kisan channels, one would be able to watch the channels by installing an antenna to their television sets, he said.

Mr. Rao said the Vijayawada Kendra was relaying Kisan and news channels from Delhi and Saptagiri channel from Hyderabad. The channels, however, were not being relayed properly due to some technical problems in the up-linking.

He urged the Union Government to allocate sufficient funds to address the problem and to enable people to watch the three free-to-air channels without any problem.

Honorary president of the association Katragadda Narasayya found fault with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for providing an opportunity to cable operators to collect a monthly rent of up to Rs.200 from subscribers.

The operators who were collecting Rs.100 to Rs. 150 per month till recently were demanding Rs.200 by claiming that the Government had asked them to increase the tariffs, he observed.

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