Television screens in thousands of houses across the district went blank on Saturday owing to a day-long strike by members of Madurai Cable Operators’ Guild. Demanding that the charges for Cable TV paid to them be fixed at Rs 150, the operators struck work and staged a protest near the Collectorate.
“While we are now collecting Rs 100 per month, we sought an increase to Rs 150 from which Rs 20 will be paid to the government. There has been absolutely no allocation of funds from the government towards Arasu Cable TV Corporation and we are suffering as a result,” said A. Pandi, guild president. The guild has over 650 cable operators as members in the district.
Stating that the operators had been bearing the costs of the cables and power bills, Mr Pandi said that the rising costs of materials and power had affected them more.
“Even in the event of a power failure, we pay for diesel generators. There is no cost incurred by Arasu Cable as far as the maintenance is concerned and we face the brunt from customers for poor quality of video,” he added.
The cable operators said that they were being levied an “interest” on a daily basis for any delay on their side to make payments to the corporation.
“In most cases, it takes time for us to collect cable TV subscription charges from all customers and submit before the 20{+t}{+h}of every month, and hence the interest levied should be revoked,” they said.
The operators claimed that their customers complained of frequent changes in frequencies of various channels on the whims of the central operator.
“Ever since the corporation took over, there had been no dialogue with us. We went on a strike so that the operators would get some respite and customers would be extended quality service,” Mr Pandi added.
