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Tightening grips on the cable TV operators

City Correspondent
Cable television operators will be required to focus more on customer service under the new policy of die information minis-t*y
Following complaints from subscribers, the ministry has suggested forming an advisory committee with representatives from cable operators and the ministry for bringing transparency and accountability in the cable TV business.
Led by the information secretary, the committee will also monitor the conducts of cable operators to make sure that they attend to subscribers' complaints promptly.
The policy also includes a strict prohibition of airing video, VCD or DVD channels. They will be allowed to air only the government-approved satelliteTVchannels.
It will be forbidden to downlink foreign channels by sending money to other countries without the authorisation from the authorities concerned, sources said.
Also, it will be mandatory for the cable operators to air important government notifications and speech of the head of the government, important press notes and also crucial warnings regarding weather forecasts.
The rules are being prepared under the Cable Television Network Operation Act of2006.
The policy comes at a time when previous steps to streamline the cable television business proved futile and the subscribers continued to report’ irregularities.
Subscribers in the erry say the cable television business- is monopolistic and anticompetitive. They frequently raise questions about the indiscriminate monthly subscription, ownership structure and the poor consumer service.
Subscribers also allege that complaints regarding service laxity go mostly unheeded.
"Complaints do not help much," said a resident of Moghbazar.
"Most of the cable operators do not even have specialised technicians or trouble-shooters to help maintain smooth service. Sometimes they would spend a whole day trying to figure out a problem, with little results," he complained.
Cable operators however deny the allegations, saying they give the highest priority to the customers' needs.
T do not know about other operators but for me my subscribers arc of utmost importance. Maybe sometimes we cannot attend to their problems immediately due to technical problem or lack of logistics, but we tend to do it as soon as possible," said Moktar Hossain, a cable operator from KhilgaonTilpapara.
According to sources from the information ministry, a
number pi regulations specified in the Cable Television Network Operation Act of 2006 are going blatantly unheeded.
In a directive specified in the subsection 3 of section 17, the government has prohibited 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 claimed that distributors com-pellingly sell multiple channels in one package and allegedly demand high subscription for the whole package. "We have to pay high charges for the pay channels as they are distributed in packages. Subsequently, the government-fixed subscription charges mean big financial losses for us,” said a cable operator from Rayerbazar.
Subsection 7 of the section 3 implies that the pay channels allowed by the government have to be distributed as per the price policy set by the government. But cable operators said the government is yet to specify the price for pay channels.
Asked, officials at the infor-
mauon ministry saio me process of finalising the price chart for the pay channels is in progress.
Distributors also complained that the cable operators do not divulge the actual number of their subscribers, which is depriving the government of a huge amount of taxes while minimising the revenues of the distributors.
According to unofficial sources, there are around 26 cable distributors in the city, who buy the pay channels from the pay channel agents and distribute the feed to around 370 local operators through dish antennas.