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Cable TV set to become unaffordable in Telangana

Monthly charges to touch Rs 600; middle and lower income groups to face the heat
Hyderabad: Cable TV, which remains the prime source of entertainment and information for a majority of households, is all set to become unaffordable for people from middle and lower income groups.
Cable operators said they are being forced to increase monthly charges to Rs 600 from Rs 200 by Multi-System Operators, especially Hathway MSO, which is resorting to “indiscriminate hike” in charges citing digitisation. They said the MSOs had served notices asking them to pay Rs 419 per connection; if cable TV services charges are also included, the monthly bill will be in the range of Rs 550 to Rs 600.
They alleged a conspiracy by MSOs and broadcasters to banish cable TV operators system and the threat to blackout all the TV channels by taking up ‘switch-off agitation’ within a week, if MSOs refuse to the withdraw hike. Telangana State Cable TV Operators Welfare Association on Wednesday held an emergency meeting to decide the future course of action against MSOs.
Association president M. Jithender, GS S. Jagadishwar Rao and GHMC area president P. Satish addressed nearly 300 cable TV operators and urged them to join hands to save the industry from the “MSOs - broadcasters nexus.”
“Earlier the MSOs collected Rs 2 per connection to provide popular channels like Star Sports, Star Plus, Sony etc. Now, they have hiked the charges ranging from Rs 20 to Rs 40. We provide 250 to 300 channels for less than Rs 200. But MSOs are asking us to pay Rs 419 per connection to offer these channels. If we have to collect an additional Rs 200 per connection towards our operational and maintenance charges, the monthly cable TV bill will cross Rs 600. How can people from lower income groups afford this? This is nothing but denying entertainment to the poor, which we will not accept,” said Mr Jithender.
Mr Jagadishwar Rao said they themselves would set up an MSO with the help of the Telangana government and see that all other MSOs in TS shut shop. Mr Satish said poor people are not in a position to buy set top boxes for Rs 1,500 and demanded that the government supply them for Rs 200.
Denying the charges, Hathway’s south business head P.H. Rajasekhar, said, “The charges are not prescribed on our own. They comply with Trai regulations on digitisation of cable TV services.”
He said cable TV operators used to pay a lumpsum amount of up to Rs 20,000 to MSOs. “Now we have asked them to pay Rs 50 on each connection.” Asked about the Rs 419 package, he said, “It depends on Trai regulations. Consumers have the choice to choose the channels. The more channels they opt for, higher will be the charges. It’s not in our hands.”
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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