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Cable TV men face barrage of complaints

City Correspondent
Despite its immense popularity, the cable television industry is still facing nagging complaints from consumers and scrutiny from the authorities.
Subscribers in the city call the cable television industry monopolistic and anticompetitive. They also raise questions about its indiscriminate rates, ownership structure and its less-than-glittering reputation for consumer service.
"To say that we are dissatisfied with their (cable operators] activities and services would be an understatement. Most of the times it is a hassl/s to deal with them,” said Sakhawat Hossain, a resident of North Badda.
"It all starts from the time of subscribing when they demand unreasonable charges," he said. "Beside monthly rentals, there is the mandatory registration fee, then there is the extra charge for their cables. In my case I simply told them that I would buy my own cables, and after I did it with
quite a hefty amount it was stolen just in a month," he added.
Subscribers also allege that their complaints regarding service laxity go mostly unheeded.
"Recently there was a lot of static in a number of cable channels. So I lodged a complaint with my cable operator. After repeated reminders, around five days later they finally bothered to send someone over to check my connection," said Nashid Hossain from Demra.
Mohammad Jamal Uddin residing at Green Road echoed Nasheed Hasan's notions.
"Complaints do not help much. But I have noticed something really interesting. All the needs and complaints of the subscribers, no matter how minor is attended to in no time during the first week of the month -- the time before bill collection," said Jamal Uddin.
"After you have paid the rental, they return to their usual bungle, slackening off for the rest of the month," he said.
"Most of the cable operators
do not even have specialised technicians or trouble-shooters to help maintain the service. Sometimes they would spend a whole day trying to figure out a problem, with little results," said a resident of Mogbazar.
Abul Kalam, a cable operator at Rayer Bazar denied the accusations, saying they put their best efforts to see to the needs of their viewers.
"I do not know about other cable operators but in my case the viewers are given priority over anything. Maybe sometimes it is not possible to send people to attend to their problems instantly for several reasons, but we do send someone to the spot as soon as possible," said Abul Kalam.
Many subscribers have also observed that cable operators in the city have made it mostly an area-based business. "If you watch closely, each of the vicinities have only one cable operator. That cable operator will not allow any group to run the trade in his area," said Golam Hossain from
Mirpur, "they simply monopolise in that area and do whatever they want to the subscribers."
"Is there any authority out there that could turn to our help," he posed.
Subscribers like Golam Hossain can share his gripes regarding cable operators with the Controller of License Department of Bangladesh Television (BTV), who has the authority to monitor the industry's alleged wrongdoings and take appropriate actions.
"In case any subscriber is not satisfied at any services provided by their cable operator, they are most welcome to let us know about it so that we can look into the matter, and maybe take actions against the cable operator if deemed necessary,” he asserted.
According to sources at the ministry of information, a number of regulations specified in the Cable Television Network Operation act of 2006 are going blatantly unheeded.
Section 3(2) of the act prohib-
its advertisement, exhibition or airing of any other channels including the likes of video, VCD or DVD channels apart from the government approved channels. However, this regulation seems to be only limited to the papers as almost every cable operators are airing their own video channels for their viewers.
In another directive specified in the subsection 3 of section 17, the government prohibits the distribution of multiple channels through one single package. The subsection suggests that each channel should be distributed with a price tag as decided by the government.
However, cable operators allege that distributors compel them to buy multiple channels in a package and demand high prices for the whole package.
"We pay high charges for the pay channels as they are distrib uted in packages. Consequently, the government set fixed sub scription charges means big losses for us," said Abul Kalam, a cable operator at Rayer Bazar.