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Television sets in Kolkata may go blank from September, thanks to a row between multi-service operators (MSO) and local cable operators over collecting details of subscribers and their choice of channels.
Though the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued a “strict” August 23 deadline for collecting subscriber details and choice of channels from cable TV users, operators have covered just about one-thirds of the 28 lakh users so far.
Transmission of free-to-air channels will also be stopped, if the necessary details are not available with TRAI by then.
While the MSOs are citing the cable operators’ “lethargy” as one of the main reasons for the slow progress, some of the local service providers claim they are yet to get subscriber management forms (mandatory for fulfilling TRAI norms) from the MSOs.
A leading MSO pointed out that “lack of consumer awareness” also proved to be a dampener in implementing the digital addressable cable TV system. This is so despite special advertisements being aired in Kolkata.
“It is quite difficult to get the subscriber details and channel choices of all the 28 lakh consumers by August 23. Cable operators are not yet reaching out to all the households. However, we are trying our level best to comply with the TRAI deadline,” said Suresh Sethia, Director, East, SitiCable. Of the nine MSOs, SitiCable controls a substantial share of cable TV users in Kolkata.
Swapan Chowdhury, General Secretary, Cable and Broadband Operators Welfare Association, said the MSOs and local operators had “engaged in a blame-game”. “Forget the choice of channels, the basic information (customer application form) has not been collected from almost half of the cable TV users in Kolkata,” Chowdhury said.
According to him, proper billing will not be possible unless the initial details are available with the local service provider. “Only one MSO in Kolkata provided customer application forms while installing the set-top boxes,” he added.
Interestingly, Mrinmoy Bhowmick, a resident of south Kolkata, has been promised a “flexible package” of 500-odd channels without filling in the subscriber management form. “The cable operator has only asked for a photocopy of my voter ID and a passport size photo. I was never informed about a separate application with channel choices,” he said.
> ayan.pramanik@thehindu.co.in
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