Cable firms, Ten slug it out over user base

Cable operators and Ten Sports, which has the exclusive rights to telecast the upcoming India-Pakistan cricket series, have locked horns over the number of subscribers the cable operators are required to declare.

A number of cable operators today united against the increase in subscriber base which many pay channels, including Ten Sports, have demanded.

They said they were unable to pay four to five times the present subscription amount and may be forced to black out Ten Sports telecast during the matches.

"Not only Ten Sports, most pay channel broadcasters have asked for four-five times the present subscription payments and they want this agreement for the next one year. We cannot sustain such payments," said Vikky Choudhary, president, Cable Operators Federation of India (COFI).

The only ray of hope for consumers in India could be the PTV II channel which, according to some cable operators, will telecast these matches on satellite.

But even here there is an element of uncertainty since this Pakistani channel could decide not to telecast these matches on satellite and only go for terrestrial transmission within Pakistan.

"We are looking at how we can telecast the matches in India," he said.

Cable operators have also said that the government needs to bring in regulations to govern the pricing of pay channels. They demanded an immediate implementation of Conditional Access System (CAS) in all the four metros. Cable operators have also reiterated their old demand for a cap on advertisement on pay television channels.

The cable operators have also demanded an immediate intervention from the government to help Doordarshan to get the India-Pakistan series telecast rights "The Pakistani Govt. has managed the telecast rights from Ten Sports and fixed the rate at Rs 2 per subscriber for cable television homes," said Choudhary.

The cable operators have also demand a level playing field with the direct to home and broadband services which, do not attract any entertainment tax or service tax as against the cable services where the entertainment tax rate is up to 30 per cent.