ITV

Tag: Mrinal Chatterjee

  • Bengal Broadband to offer cable TV & broadband services in W Bengal

    Bengal Broadband to offer cable TV & broadband services in W Bengal

    MUMBAI: Here’s another cable TV consortium looking to provide digital cable TV and broadband services to eastern state of Kolkata. Under the umbrella of Bengal Broadband & Cable TV Services, the MSO is focusing its operations on Kolkata, North and South 24 Parganas, Burdwan, Birbhum, Nadia and Murshidabad markets.

    Promoted by four cable operators as its directors Surendra Kumar Sancheti, Mrinal Chatterjee, Avit Sinha and Sagar Sengupta, the company launched its services in Kolkata last week. Said managing director Mrinal Chatterjee at the time of the launch: “DTH operators have been capturing the market bypassing us. Other MSOs have also making it hard for local cable operators to function. Our business has suffered after digitisation and therefore to secure our future we are launching our digital services.”

    Bengal Broadband will come head-to-head in competition with well-established national and regional MSOs such as Siti Networks, GTPL, Manthan and Hathway.

    Chatterjee however believes there is opportunity for more players as Phase IV digitization has been progressing very slowly and a huge number of set top boxes are needed to move it forward. And the deadline of 31 March 2017 does not perturb the new MSO at all. Said he: “Within March, we will capture a sizable market share.”

    The MSO will be targeting Phase I, II, III and IV areas of the state and will offer both analogue and digital services including HD channels. The plan is to also migrate to broadband delivery in the not too distant future.
    Bengal Broadband has been signing on both subscribers and other local cable TV operators as its partners.

  • Bengal Broadband to offer cable TV & broadband services in W Bengal

    Bengal Broadband to offer cable TV & broadband services in W Bengal

    MUMBAI: Here’s another cable TV consortium looking to provide digital cable TV and broadband services to eastern state of Kolkata. Under the umbrella of Bengal Broadband & Cable TV Services, the MSO is focusing its operations on Kolkata, North and South 24 Parganas, Burdwan, Birbhum, Nadia and Murshidabad markets.

    Promoted by four cable operators as its directors Surendra Kumar Sancheti, Mrinal Chatterjee, Avit Sinha and Sagar Sengupta, the company launched its services in Kolkata last week. Said managing director Mrinal Chatterjee at the time of the launch: “DTH operators have been capturing the market bypassing us. Other MSOs have also making it hard for local cable operators to function. Our business has suffered after digitisation and therefore to secure our future we are launching our digital services.”

    Bengal Broadband will come head-to-head in competition with well-established national and regional MSOs such as Siti Networks, GTPL, Manthan and Hathway.

    Chatterjee however believes there is opportunity for more players as Phase IV digitization has been progressing very slowly and a huge number of set top boxes are needed to move it forward. And the deadline of 31 March 2017 does not perturb the new MSO at all. Said he: “Within March, we will capture a sizable market share.”

    The MSO will be targeting Phase I, II, III and IV areas of the state and will offer both analogue and digital services including HD channels. The plan is to also migrate to broadband delivery in the not too distant future.
    Bengal Broadband has been signing on both subscribers and other local cable TV operators as its partners.

  • Kolkata MSOs to increase channel package rates

    Kolkata MSOs to increase channel package rates

    KOLKATA: A revision in channel package rates is on the cards following the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) directions to multi system operators (MSOs) last week to ensure delivery of bills to subscribers by hand, post or email as opted for by them, and provide within 45 days an online payment option in their subscriber management system (SMS) for subscribers to pay their bills in the first phase of the digital addressable system (DAS).

     

    However, the percentage by which channel package rates will go up is not exactly known.

     

    Kolkata has nearly 30 lakh cable homes and till mid-January, MSOs were issuing ad-hoc bills to subscribers. According to several LCOs, despite having implemented gross (consumer) billing in the Kolkata Municipal Area (KMA) since January, end consumers are not willing to pay billed amounts to LCOs.

     

    When contacted, Siticable Kolkata director Suresh Sethia said, “Package rates will soon be revised. There are instances where consumers are not getting bills from LCOs. The law of the land is the same for everyone. So, we have to courier bills to end users and this involves costs.”

     

    “We are happy that TRAI is trying to make the system more transparent,” Sethia added.

     

    An MSO on condition of anonymity said, “We will have to depute collection agents and provide them with a salary or collection commission, whatever they think is better as LCOs are not able to collect money from end consumers. But we can’t use this as an excuse and will ensure we adhere to the TRAI rules, however cash-strapped we are.”

     

    A cable expert expressed the view that package rates will have to be increased as post implementation of DAS broadcasters have started bargaining a lot and have proposed to charge a much higher rate than before.

     

    “MSOs are bound to increase the price as they have to show the bill and pay the tax on that. Also, to follow the new bill delivery system of the TRAI, additional costs will be incurred in terms of software development and manpower. To justify that, they may increase the price,” said Incubators Group chairman Kaushlendra Singh Sengar.

     

    Sengar informed that the Regulator had also asked MSOs to ensure that an electronic acknowledgement is sent to subscribers on their registered mobile numbers or email addresses within 30 days of making the payment to the service provider.

     

    A cable analyst, Mrinal Chatterjee, begged to differ, “Cable TV operation is not telecom operation. Here, LCOs also work. MSOs have no network of their own but depend on last mile connectors. Customers are the clients of the LMO, so how can MSOs send bills to them?”

     

    Other industry sources argued that some MSOs didn’t even have an SMS in place so how could they start an online payment option in the SMS.

     

    Still other sources opined that MSOs and LCOs need to address the issues together. “Now it seems the authorities want to remove the LCOs from this trade altogether, but it is not that easy to do so,” said an LCO on condition of anonymity.

  • Kolkata may bill cable TV consumers from 10 December

    Kolkata may bill cable TV consumers from 10 December

    KOLKATA: On 29 November,  indiantelevision.com  had reported that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) pushed the deadline for MSOs to submit duly-filled CAFs (Consumer Application Forms) to 15 December, also asking them to implement gross/direct billing by December.

    The latest development is that Kolkata is likely to start the billing process from 10 December.
    Said Siticable Kolkata director Suresh Sethia: “We have been prepared for a long time but since some MSO’s were not ready, we had to wait.  Now, everyone has agreed to bill as per package from 10 November. We will put the bills on the system. The operators will distribute the same to subscribers. The bills will mention amusement tax and service tax components separately.”

    If all goes well, Kolkata will end up leading the pack as players in other metros are targeting January, in some cases even the last quarter of the current fiscal to start direct billing.
    Popular perception is that direct billing will bring transparency and order into an otherwise largely unorganised business.

    Director Manthan Broadband Sudip Ghosh said: “Billing is the first step to inform consumers of the changed ecosystem in a digitised environment.”

    However, several MSOs are opposing the process. Sources reveal that though Kolkata has some 30 lakh cable homes, MSOs like DEN and Digicable haven’t even started the package, let alone starting direct billing.

    Swapan Chowdhury, convener of the Cable Operators Digitalisation Committee of the Association of Cable Operators, too felt that with DAS not implemented properly in the city, packages not available and technical problems in the software and system used for direct billing, it could be said the government was simply putting pressure on the MSOs to collect taxes easily. “No one is concerned about the operators,” he said.

    Apurba Bhattacharya, general secretary, Cable Operators Sangram Committee too opined that everything was a hodge podge in DAS I.

    Cable TV analyst Mrinal Chatterjee pointed out that many customers weren’t paying the rentals. “Bill should be introduced. As the central and state government too is losing tax unless the bill is introduced. Some MSOs claim that they are ready with the bill and the backend system needed for it but they are not!” she said.

    Media analyst Namit Dave posed a very real question: “At a time when some CAFs are not filled in and customers are unable to see their favourite channels even after opting for the preferred bouquet as offered in the channel package, is the city ready to take on direct billing?”

  • Around 1.80 lakh defaulters in Kolkata face TV blackout as of 26 August

    Around 1.80 lakh defaulters in Kolkata face TV blackout as of 26 August

    KOLKATA: With the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) pressuring service providers in Kolkata to disconnect the television connections of customers for not submitting the subscriber application forms, multiple system operators, more than 1.80 lakh customers have experienced a black out till Monday evening.

    While talking about the snapping of the connection which started from Saturday morning, Den Networks, Hathway Cable and Datacom and Manthan Broadband Services snapped the maximum number of cable connections, out of 80,000 which were disconnected on August 24.

    Also, with just around 45 days remaining for the grand festival of Durga Puja, some cable operators are relaxed and have assured the customers that they can send the details after the festival is over, said a customer, using the service of one of the players, which has maximum penetration in KM area.

    Industry sources said: “The consumer application forms (CAF) of these MSOs were not ready as compared to other players like SitiCable. As a result, the three MSOs had to switch off the connection,” adding that the MSO will continue to switch-off few connections at a time in the coming days to guard against law-and-order problem.

    As per the TRAI mandate, the MSOs were supposed to switch-off the cable connections of those customers, who had not filled-up the CAFs in Kolkata post midnight of 23 August.

    Committee of the Association of Cable Operators, Cable Operators Digitalisation convener Swapan Chowdhury said the MSOs have been asked by the TRAI to provide details of TV connections running illegally in the KM area.

    Siticable that has disconnected more than 90,000 subscribers till Monday evening, has seen a good response from customers. “We are not switching off the connections of CAF non compliance customers at a go. We are doing it in small numbers – say 15,000,” expounded Siticable director (Kolkata) Suresh Sethia.

    Manthan Broadband Services which has installed 6.5 lakh to seven lakh set top boxes, had alone disconnected around 30,000 connections on Saturday, said Manthan Broadband Services director Sudip Ghosh.

    “Our purpose is not to switch-off the connection. But after snapping say four connections, more than 100 customers have approached from the vicinity,” he added.

    Seeing the fast response from the customers, it can be easily assumed that in the KM DAS area, CAFs rate is likely to be 70 per cent to 80 per cent in next six days – seven days, Ghosh predicted.

    Den Networks and Hathway Cable and Datacom could not be asked specifically about the connections snapped by them in KM area.

    Cable Shilpa Bachao Committee convener Mrinal Chatterjee said instead of disconnecting the TV sets, TRAI should penalise the MSOs and not the customers by asking MSOs to switch off the connection; as the CAFs were not given to the customers on time.

    With no official extension notice from the regulatory body, will Kolkata see deactivation of set-top boxes of more and more defaulters at this juncture? Watch this space for the latest updates.