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TN cable operators blank pay channels

Our Bureau

CHENNAI, Dec. 30

CABLE television operators in Tamil Nadu today switched off all the pay-channels protesting what they called the hefty hike in subscription fees by the channels.

According to the cable TV operators, the pay-channels -- the Star package, DD Sports, TNT Cartoon Network, HBO -- have increased the subscription fees per household by 30 to 65 per cent from January 1, 2002.

The operators said they would not be able to pass on this increase to their customers and hence had resorted to the strike today to protest the hefty hike. The operators said that the pay-channels increased the subscription tariff annually around January . On earlier occasions, the increase ranged from 25 to 30 per cent only.

The highest hike this time was for the Star bouquet of channels (eight channels including Star News, Star World, Star Sports, National Geographic and Star Plus), where the increase was as much as 65 per cent, the operators said.

The cable operators hoped that they would be able to convince the pay-channels that they would not be able to pass on the increase to their subscribers. Therefore, they wanted the pay-channels to reduce the quantum of increase substantially.

On their part, the pay-channels are supposed to have told the operators that their expenditure on programming, be it in acquiring the rights for movies or live telecast rights for sports, had gone up substantially, and hence, the increase in tariff.

According to the operators, they have to adopt a differential subscription fee structure depending on the locality. For instance, in economically weaker sections, the fee will be much lower than in the affluent areas.

And, if the operators want to uniformly increase the subscription fee because of the hike in tariff by the pay-channels, those subscribers belonging to the economically weaker sections want the operators to blank those channels. This poses problems for t he operators, the cable operators say.

The cable operators are not yet decided on the course of action they will take. They have formed a committee to hold talks with the pay channels.