Cable operators from East and West Delhi joined a protest against the new revenue-sharing model following an amendment in Cable TV Network Regulation Act 1995 by shutting down their services.
The move led TV sets in a number of households being blacked out. The office-bearer of Trans-Yamuna Cable TV Operators’ Association claimed that 70 per cent of cable operators had suspended their operation to express solidarity with the association.
The cable TV operators’ association on Friday had announced that to mark their protest against the “arbitrary policy of the Government”, which has resulted into huge loss to such operators, they would blackout cable networks for 48 hours. The protest was to be started from 9 pm on Friday and continue till March 31. On Friday, 55 cable operators shut down their network hence over one lakh consumers were affected.
“Since 12 noon, we are not receiving any channel. When we enquired about it, we were told that a 48 hours’ strike has been called by the cable operators in Delhi from Friday,” said Neeraj Kumar Sahi, a resident of Dilshad Garden area.
“We will continue our protest till 9 pm on Sunday. The Government has failed to listen to us. We have taken this step out of helplessness. Unless we get an appropriate solution from the Government we are going to expand the protest. The cable TV operators in other states are soon to join us,” said Bhai Surjeet Singh, the co-convenor of Trans-Yamuna Cable TV Operators’ Association.
Roop Sharma, the president of Cable Operators’ Federation of India based in West Delhi said that the associations will approach the Minister for Information and Broadcasting on Monday to discuss the issue.