Southern States - Andhra Pradesh

Cable operators hit out at pay channel firms

By Our Staff Reporter

CUDDAPAH MARCH 26. The Kadiri MLA and State president of Master Control Room Association, Parthasarathi, on Monday called upon the cable operators to be united and counter the onslaught of the Pay Channel companies.

Presiding over the council meeting of the association, the MLA lamented that the Pay Channel companies were levying steep charges due to lack of coordination between the master control room operators and the cable operators. This was causing hardship to both the operators as well as the consumers, he stated. The cable operators were ensuring transmission of electronic media to the rural areas without any Governmental support.

Stating that special committees would be constituted from the district-level to the State-level, he said the consumer interests as well as the business interests of operators must be taken into consideration. Unhealthy competition among the operators would pose problems in future, he warned.

The former MLA and association's district president, M.V. Ramana Reddy, alleged that the status of cable operators was dwindling day by day and they were being reduced to the level of bill collectors of the pay channel companies. The operator system would be safeguarded only when a common decoder system was evolved, he observed.

The managing director of Siticable, Tirupati, Rajasekhara Reddy, wanted quarterly meetings of cable operators to thwart the dictatorial tendencies of pay channel companies. The MD of Siticable, Anantapur, Goutham, said operators had to incur an expenditure of Rs. 150 to Rs. 220 for each connection given to a consumer, but as the consumer was unaware of it, operators were facing allegations of over-charging etc., he said.

The MD of Incable, Tirupati, Koundinya, MD of Siticable, Cuddapah and district secretary of Master Control Room, K. Suryanarayana Rao, DM of Siticable, Nandyal, Jayachandra Reddy, several master control room operators and cable operators also participated.

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