COIMBATORE: Watching your favourite serial or sport on television will soon become expensive in Coimbatore as around 1,800 cable TV operators have started shifting from government-run Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation (TACT) to private operators allegedly due to poor quality of signals and frequent stoppage of channels. Due to the changes, consumers will have to pay between Rs 280 - Rs 300 per month instead of Rs 180 (for the basic plan) given for the service provided by TACT TV.
According to sources, the subscription of TACT TV has come down below 1.40 lakh from 2.30 lakh in the last one year. “We could not operate through the TACT as interruption of the relay is very frequent in recent days. Everyday, we were facing issues with the TACT TV service, mostly between 2 pm and 4 pm. Though the Tahsildar office of TACT TV, assures us that the issue will solve soon, usually it take hours for transmission to be restored. Due to frequent stoppage of service, 20% of our customers have shifted to the DTH system. If we still depend on TACT TV, we would lose the remaining customers. So we have now shifted to a private which is run by Polimer cable,” said a cable operator from Ramanathapuram in Coimbatore.
CV Dinesh, the district coordinator of Tamilaga Cable Operators Association, said, “TACT TV has almost lost its credibility in the last two years. To retain customers shifting to DTH from cable TV services, cable operators have no option than going with private cable services. Private operators are providing better service than TACT.”
K Revathi, a customer from Balaji Nagar in Coimbatore, said, “Recently the cable operator who is providing service to our home changed the set-top box from TACT TV to a private operator. With the TACT TV service, we paid Rs 210 per month, including some paid channels chosen by us. After changing the set-top box, the operator has increased up to Rs 280 per month. However, now we can watch TV uninterrupted, unlike the TACT TV.”
When contacted, Collector Kranthi Kumar Pati said he would check the matter. “An inquiry will be conducted regarding the issue and steps will be taken to resolve it,” he said.