HYDERABAD: It is the FIFA world cup season and the football fans across the city are glued to their TV set. While the 90-minute match could have been a thrilling affair, constant freezing of cable network is playing the spoilsport. Cutting across colonies and slums, about 8 lakh cable TV subscribers, of late, are facing constant trouble with their service providers.
Freezing of cable network, sudden loss of connection with the server, and set-top boxes not working for days together are some of the issues that have been plaguing the denizens. The reason? A tussle that has been brewing between the cable TV operators (CTVO) and the Multi-System Operator (MSOs), a company that owns cable TV connections.
Currently, there are two prominent cable TV MSOs that have a wide market share in the city - Hathway Cable and Siti Cable. They provide cable TV set-top boxes and connectivity to the consumers through CTVOs. But, due to ongoing issues and demands raised by the operators, the consumers are put to trouble.
“These companies have a monopoly. They bypass us to directly fiddle with connections of our customers for unavoidable delays in payment of monthly bills,” said K Harish, a cable operator from Ramanthapur. “They do not understand that everyone does not pay the bill in time, despite the bill collection in every area being 70-80 per cent.”
CTVOs also allege that the MSO’s have been overcharging them for user charges but are still failing to give enough service. “We had an agreement signed in front of the Commissioner of Police and the Home Minister in 2016 to keep the user charges per set-top box at `65 but that has been increased without any notice to `95,” alleged G Satish Mudiraj, Telangana Cable Operators Welfare Association.