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Tag: COUF

  • The day after: COUF team meets Khurana

    NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: A day after the Indian government decided to defer rollout of conditional access system (CAS) in Delhi, a delegation of Cable Operators United Front (COUF) went and met up with senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Madan Lal Khurana, generally being viewed by the industry as the villain of the piece.
    “We assured Mr Khurana that the cable operators would not raise the monthly cable subscription fee and the consumers would continue to pay the same amount as they are paying now,” COUF’s Tejender Chawla said after the meting today, confirming that the consumers would not be harassed.
    Khurana, who is making a bid for the chief ministership of Delhi in the ensuing state elections later this year, has been one of the staunchest opponents of CAS rollout in Delhi. Surprisingly, he had found an ally in the Congress chief minister, Shiela Dikshit, on the issue of CAS.
    The COUF delegation assured Khurana that a backlash from the cable community against the government decision is highly unlikely; and even if that happens, it would be limited to some independent cable ops who have their own agenda.
    COUF is one of the cable organisations that has been maintaining that providing the basic tier of service for Rs 72 (excluding taxes) in a post-CAS regime would be economically untenable for cable operators. The organisation had been demanding that the price be fixed at Rs 180 per month.
    Meanwhile, a meeting that was to be held by cable operators in Mumbai turned out to be a non-CAS event where some other issues were discussed.
    Even in Delhi some of the MSOs and cable ops, who had threatened agitation today, decided to hold back and follow the wait-and-watch policy. A senior executive of an MSO said here, “We are waiting to see what is the reaction in Mumbai and Kolkata before we chart out a future course of action.”

  • Cable ops stage demonstration against Rs 72 FTA price

    NEW DELHI: Stepping up pressure on the government to review the free-to-air package rates fixed at Rs. 72, over 100 cable operators belonging to the Cable Operators United Front (COUF) on Wednesday staged a demonstration demanding that the maximum rate for the basic tier after conditional access system (CAS) is introduced be raised to at least Rs 180.
    Accusing the government of trying to “mislead” people, COUF president Virendra Gaur said, “Under the existing package prescribed by the Government the last mile cable operators will not be able to operate and the industry would be finished.”
    “We have been providing services for Rs 100-150 for the last 13 years and the government is suddenly asking us to provide services for Rs 72. This package is not financially viable”, he said in a statement.
    Exhorting the government to take the cable operators into confidence, he alleged the package had been fixed without the opinion of all sections of the cable fraternity or taking others’ viewpoints into consideration.
    “The package was fixed to save the interests of multiple system operators (MSOs) and broadcasters,” he said.
    COUF, which claimed to have the support of 25,000 operators, said it had suspended cable services from 11.30 to 14.30 hrs in 99 per cent of the 40 lakh cable homes it reached in the four metros.
    However, this claim is disputed by many, including those in Delhi who said the blackout was partial.

     

  • Govt losing grip on CAS rudder as cable ops on warpath, broadcasters defiant

    NEW DELHI: Even as the cable fraternity is on the warpath, though for reasons of its own, the government appears to be out of its depth in its efforts (or the lack of it) to tackle the broadcasters with whom the honeymoon seems to be over.
    On Tuesday, while a section of the cable operators threatened to continue in the present regime from 1 August (that is charge the current rate of cable subscription fee), if the government did not put in place a regulatory mechanism to rein in broadcasters, another section threatened a blackout unless the basic tier price is raised to Rs 180 per month per household.
    As the cable ops and distributors of cable service were holding separate press conferences in the capital here and hurling threats, at another venue a senior government official admitted, “The government is open to have a fresh look at anything and any proposal.”
    Today’s admission comes at a time when the government is feeling the heat from various quarters on the implementation of CAS in the metros, area-wise or otherwise. Even today former Delhi chief minister Madan Lal Khurana said CAS couldn’t and should not be implemented in Delhi before the elections slated to be held later that year. Khurana has also petitioned the Prime Minister to exclude Delhi from the CAS rollout list.
    Pointing out that even today, the deadline agreed upon for submission of individual rates for channels, the broadcasters did not submit any rates to the government, the official said, “What was normally agreed upon, should be stuck to.”
    The official further added that the government has no intimation on whether the cable operators would supply the cable service at Rs 72 from 1 August till CAS is finally rolled out across all the metros by 1 December.
    “We are waiting to hear from the cable operators and broadcasters (on the price of Rs 72 during the transition period). The broadcasters certainly haven’t confirmed and the cable operators are saying different things depending which side they are on.”
    The official ruled out promulgation of an Ordinance at the moment, barely a week away from the date when Parliament reconvenes, to rein in broadcasters and limit advertising on pay channels.
    Interestingly, the government is keeping a watch over the cable fraternity and today sent an official to monitor the proceedings incognito at one of the cable operators’ congregation, while an information and broadcasting ministry official met up with the MSOs.
    CABLE OPS THREATEN DISRUPTION
    In what could be called a show of strength, the Cable Operators United Front (COUF) today collected over 500 operators from various parts of North India in the Capital to criticise the government-broadcasters nexus.
    According to Virendra Gaur of the COUF, the government has to review the price of the basic tier of free to air (FTA) channels as an ordinary cable operator would not be able to provide the service at Rs. 72 (exclusive of taxes) per month per household.
    COUF has demanded that the FTA channels’ price be revised upward to Rs 180 (slightly over $3) and threatened blackouts of cable service if their demands are not met.
    Meanwhile, the Cable Operators Federation of India (COFI) and the National Cable Telecom Association (NCTA) told a press conference in the absence of a regulatory framework, they would not offer the Rs 72 `honeymoon’ package for all channels, as agreed earlier.
    The cable operators said that several issues needed to be addressed, including putting a cap on advertising on pay channels, asking broadcasters to come up with `reasonable’ pay channel rates and ensuring that there was no blackout of any pay channels once the new regime is implemented.
    NCTA president Vikki Chowdhry also alleged a nexus between the politicians and pay broadcasters, while COFI’s Roop Sharma aid, “By not declaring any price the broadcasters are out to sabotage CAS.”
    Interestingly, the cable ops have to rely on the broadcasters to woo the media. COFI and NCTA’s invite said that FTA broadcasters like G Krishnan of TV Today Network would also be present as also politician Amar Singh. Neither of them turned up, of course.
    HINDUJA CLAIM ON STBs
    The Hinduja-owned HTMT today said that it has imported 50,000 set-top boxes (STBs) and from August would have access to indigenously manufactured boxes.
    HTMT’s VC Khare told journalists that the company has entered into a contract with Celtron that has a manufacturing facility in Mumbai.
    “From August our target would be to have 5,000 indigenously made boxes daily,” Khare said.

  • Mumbai cable ops reject compromise formula

    NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Even as the Indian government today continued its efforts to convince the media and critics that everything is hunky-dory on the conditional access front, the Mumbai cable operators and cable distributors joined issue with their Delhi counterparts in denouncing a move to price cable services at Rs 72 during an interim period when an area-wise rollout is done.
    The government also today clarified that the cable service price of Rs 72 per month for the non-CAS enabled areas in the four metros would continue till the time the metros become fully become CAS-enabled.
    According to Sonali Cable proprietor and spokesperson of CODA (Mumbai Cable Operators and Distributors’ Association) Suvarna G Amonkar, “The association of Mumbai cable operators and distributors has rejected the move to price cable services at Rs 72 during the interim period. Mumbai based operators have joined forces with Delhi based cable operators to fight the nexus between broadcasters and MSOs.”
    On Saturday, the Delhi-based Cable Operators United Front (COUF) had rejected the so-called truce called by the broadcasters and the MSOs at the instance of the government.
    Even as this was happening, Zee Telefilms chairman and managing director Subhash Chandra today told CNBC India-TV 18 business news channel that as per his estimates there would be sizeable demand for the set top boxes in the metros.
    Cable fraternity continues to be divided
    Though some cable operators in Mumbai and Delhi have protested a government-supported move to go in for area-wise rollout of CAS in the four metros, to be completed by 1 December, another section has supported the move.
    In a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and a key official there, Sudheendra Kulkarni, Shiv Sena Vibhag Pramukh and Dattatray Cable proprietor Anil Parab, a CAS taskforce member, has highlighted the following concerns:
    1) The price of Rs 72 per month would put financial pressure on cable operators as they will not be able to meet the operational expenses such as network maintenance and salaries of staff. The government must notify that the cable operators can charge at the old rates existing as of 31 December 2002, in sync with the Mumbai high court interim order.
    2) This problem will be compounded if the CAS implementation deadline is further extended due to delaying tactics adopted by broadcasters or MSOs.
    3) If the government issues a notification on Rs 72 per month, the Mumbai HC that is scheduled to hear the cable case on 23 July might be influenced to pass a judgement on similar lines. Then, cable operators will not be able to properly collect dues for an entire year starting January 2003 and won’t be able to pay MSOs who, in turn, won’t be able to settle dues with broadcasters. Already, broadcasters have threatened to disconnect if all past dues are not settled by end July.
    The Delhi-based COUF had, of course, termed the whole truce effort “shocking and disappointing”, especially as there was no complete and true representation of cable operators at the meeting where the compromise formula — with riders from broadcasters — was evolved.
    Pointing out that the price of Rs 72 for the basic tier, termed as the service charges, is too low, COUF president Virendra Gaur had warned that “there will be no cable television in these four metro post CAS if the viability of the last mile operator is not taken into consideration.”
    Gaur’s poser to the government: “How can a government neglect the interest of lakhs of poor self-employed citizens and help some big houses or foreign companies to grow on the bodies of some poor people?”
    But the counterpoint to all these arguments come from the likes of Roop Sharma, Vikki Chowdhry and Rakesh Dutta of the Cable Operators Federation of India, National Cable and Telecom Association and Cable Networks Association, respectively. Most cable ops, aligned to them, have welcomed the compromise formula despite having to take a hit of Rs 500 million per month. This is contrary to the broadcasters’ claims that the cable ops would take a hit of up to Rs 2 billion.
    According to them, the compromise formula hammered out by the PMO is a laudable one and should be accepted even if it means some loss of revenue for the cable operators in the short term
    The worrying factor
    It is indiantelevision.com’s understanding that the price of Rs 72 for the debatable interim period — the government insists it’s till 1 December, while the broadcasters say it’s till 31 August — is not the real issue that is worrying the cable fraternity.
    The worrisome issue is the riders put in by the broadcasters — and not opposed by the government also till today. The proposed riders state that the broadcasters would waive off subscription fee for the pay channels for the month of August if the MSOs clear all their past dues by 31 July and come clean with their subscriber base with the help of the cable operators.
    If the dues were not cleared by July end, the broadcasters would reserve the right to switch off any errant MSO.
    Though this is not being spelt out in public and formally by the MSOs and the cable ops, in private they do admit that clearing of dues, some of them disputed, and declaring the subscriber base may give rise to another round of face-off.
    The government stand 
    Meanwhile, the confused government continued to meander on the CAS issue. Today senior officials of the information and broadcasting ministry tried to impress upon the media that area-wise rollout of CAS, starting from 1 September, is the best formula that could have been evolved.
    Late last week, the government had also tried to gloss over the mismanagement of CAS implementation affair by stating that a section of the media had carried “misleading” reports on CAS suggesting implementation of CAS has been postponed to September.
    An official statement from the ministry had stated that the twin objectives of CAS, based on the principle that consumers can choose what they wish to watch and pay only for what they watch are (i) the cable operator shall charge only Rs 72 per month plus taxes for the basic tier of FTA channels and (ii) pay channel viewers shall pay, additionally, only for the pay channels of their choice using a set-top-box.
    The statement had further pointed out that MSOs and pay broadcasters “stand committed to the implementation of CAS in the interest of the consumer and for ensuring regulated growth of the cable TV industry.”