Navigating through hundreds of unwanted channels will soon become a thing of past as the cable operators of Ranchi are likely to begin the exercise of collecting information about a consumer including choice of channels to be delivered in the digitised form.
“We have received forms which will be circulated to all our clients in few days. Collection of information will begin soon,” said an employee of Manthan. As per the guidelines of Telecom Regularity Authority of India (TRAI), every consumer needs to furnish details of the set-top boxes installed in their houses with the list of preferred channels failing which may lead to blocking of all channels.
Incidentally, TRAI has gone ahead on consumer information with the deadline of July 10 in all phase-1 cities, phase-2 cities including Ranchi is yet to be bound by any deadline. “There is no deadline but the exercise is beneficial in the sense that one will pay for the channels which one will opt for,” said Satish Sinha, owner of Richa Cable.
Interestingly, the deadline set for blacking out channels in phase—1 cities for not providing information set panic waves in Ranchi making consumers approach their service providers for consumer information forms. “People were driven by panic as all channels were displaying the message and consequences of failing to comply with the regulation,” added Manoj Gupta, a cable operator in Morhabadi. Meanwhile, cable operators confided that Ranchi has completed digitisation on scheduled time and they are ready for the next phase of making channels available on demand.