Cable TV subscribers to take legal recourse

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, SEPT. 2. Agitated cable subscribers of the twin cities have decided not to pay a single paisa more till the matter of the `arbitrary' cable fee hike was resolved once and for all. As a first step towards finding a solution, they have decided to take legal recourse immediately.

"Let there be a status quo till a verdict comes by," was the resounding message sent across by members of more than 60 residential welfare associations who met here on Sunday protesting against the "arbitrary" hike in cable fee and the high-handed attitude of the cable operators.

They urged the people of the twin cities to resist the hike and desist from paying the enhanced rates as demanded by their local cable operator, come what may.

In case, the cable operator resorts to snapping the connections, "you just need to inform the police. They will not only restore the connection, but also arrest the unscrupulous operator. The cables are the subscribers' property. We have paid for them in the form of deposits and subscription. The operators have no business to cut the connections. They do not have the locus standi either," they fumed.

Clearly, the mood was one of aggression, putting the brakes on the cable operators' overzealous caravan. The turbulence in the cable television market has indeed churned out uncustomary comrades in arms - residents from all parts of the twin cities like Karwan, Moosarambagh and Mehdipatnam came together and resolved to fight it out till the end, come what may. And the number is only increasing, day after day.

A resident of Mallepally thundered, "Are the cable operators and cable television companies the yesteryear Nizam or jagirdars to distribute areas among themselves. Who are they to demarcate localities ? Do they have rights to distribute people among themselves ? This should end. Here and now."

The secretary of Naveen Nagar Colony, Mr. K. Anjaneyulu, said the demarcations - created by the cable companies and operators for their selfish ends - should be removed straightaway. "Let there be a level playing ground and as many operators as possible, but leave the choice to the subscribers. Let them select the best among the lot," he said. "You do not give quality telecast and then, forcibly stop others who are willing to give it. And to top it all, you want to rule the locality like a monarch," he lambasted the ways of cable operators.

Blatant demarcations like these, they opined, were violative of the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act. "We will contest this in the consumer forum as well," a resident of Greenlands suggested.

Deposits collected by operators, particularly in apartments, also came in for flak. Mr. Sathyanarayana Rao of Greenlands said a permanent deposit amount should be collected. "Please make a policy to ensure this. We need to make it a practice," he said, adding that cable operators were fleecing people by collecting deposits everytime a flat was occupied by new tenants. "How long shall this arbitrary deposit collection go on like this," he questioned.

Another important suggestion was that welfare associations explore the possibility of taking up provision of cable services in their localities as was the case in AG Colony near ESI Hospital. In the colony, predominantly housing employees of the Accountant General's Office, the welfare association has undertaken the task of giving cable connections to its residents directly. "And they give the same service for as less as Rs. 50- Rs. 75," a speaker pointed out.

Mr. Sitapathi Rao of Mayuri Apartments mooted directed cable connections to residential apartments so that middlemen in the form of cable operators were eliminated.

The president of Umanagar Welfare Association, Prof. M.V. Naidu said when the cable companies and television channels earning loads of money on advertising, why were the subscribers being taxed repeatedly. "It was only last year that they had increased the rates," he sought to know.

Another speaker explained that All India Radio which used to collect license fee initially had discontinued after advertisements kept pouring in. "Likewise, with the television channels and cable companies raking in advertising moolah, we at best need to pay service charges to the cable operators," he suggested.

A representative of the newly formed Confederation of Welfare Associations, a conglomeration of about 25 colonies in and around Mehdipatnam, sought to know how cable operators, who were giving connections at a much lower rate were surviving. "do not go by the operators' spiel. It is all humbug," was his dismissive statement.

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