Nearly 20 lakh cable TV subscribers in four north coastal Andhra districts, including five lakh in the city, will continue to miss watching the fun of entertainment and news. They will have to wait for some more time.
Those involved in cable transmission have told The Hindu that transmission may be revived in a week but to achieve normalcy, it will take a month or so.
Ten Master Signal Operators (MSOs) – five in the city, two each in Vizianagaram and East Godavari and one in Srikakulam and an estimated 600 cable operators have suffered huge losses due to damage caused by cyclone Hudhud to their installations and external cables. The total loss by the MSOs and operators is estimated at Rs.50 crore.
MSOs say they could transmit signals once power is restored on HT lines. “If we operate 250 kv generator, it will consume 1,000 litres of diesel. Hence, power restoration holds key to revival of airing the signals,” says General Manager of Media Vision Peela Srinivas.
“Five MSOs in the city themselves might have incurred a loss of at least Rs.10 crore due to loss of cable and collapse of 16-ft dish antennae,” he says.
No insuranceThe cable operators are in a state of shock as they have no insurance for the cables laid outside. Everything has gone with the gusty winds which lashed at a speed of over 200 km per hour when the severe cyclonic storm battered the coast.
“On an average each operator has lost Rs.500 per connection, half of it should be reimbursed by the government as an ex gratia,” says Seemandhra Cable TV Operators’ Welfare Association president V.S. Divakar Pakki.
“As laying fresh cables is an additional burden on us, let the government or MSOs arrange half of the finance required for us to revive our operations,” says managing partner of Sri Jyotirmayee Star Vision M.V. Soma Sekhar, who operates in MVP Sector-I.
