Television viewers suffer in cable v/s DTH soap opera

[iS THAT ME]

Television viewers suffer in cable v/s DTH soap opera​

In a complaint to Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications and Mumbai police chief, DTH companies have blamed some cable operators of jamming their signals in parts of the city and Delhi

Home after a hard day's work you plonk on the couch and switch on the TV with a fancy direct-to-home (DTH) connection to watch that game you'll dexterously accommodate in all office conversations tomorrow. Too bad! The picture is hazy. You slap the id*ot box around a bit, and then pick up the phone wishing to dish out similar treatment to the DTH operator. But maybe, you are after the wrong guy.

Jam-packed: A DTH signal jammers are kept under lock and key on a
high-rise building. DTH companies have blamed some cable operators
of jamming their signals in parts of the city and Delhi ​

In a startling revelation, rivalry between cable operators and DTH companies has come to the fore with growing instances of jammers being used in parts of Mumbai and Delhi to distort DTH signals. The DTH Operators Association of India has written an official letter complaining about this issue to the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications and Commissioner of Police, Mumbai.

Smokey signals
In his written complaint (copy with this paper), dated March 19, association president Harit Nagpal pointed out that they've received numerous complaints from subscribers residing at Yari Road, Seven Bungalows, Four Bungalows, Juhu-Versova link road etc about poor quality and freezing of pictures on television screens in a systematic manner, especially during important telecasts of the cricket tri-series in Australia, Asia Cup matches and popular film awards shows etc. Dates pertaining the telecast and subsequent complaints have also been furnished to concerned authorities in the complaint (see box: Get the picture?).

The complaint also says that ever since the notification of mandatory digitisation has been announced, the problems started erupting. Interestingly, the letter claims that on the basis of complaints received from subscribers, service providers have found that during the timings of airing cricket matches and film award shows, no reports of disturbances to their signals were noticed in any other part of the country, except the areas mentioned.

Happened before
"This is a serious problem. We detected a similar instance in Noida some months ago. Police acted and arrested the culprits. Now we have seen the same happening in Mumbai. This is not only illegal, but should ring alarm bells for security agencies too. We suspect that this is the work of some of the cable operators as they are the ones who benefit the most from such systematic disruptions of DTH signals," Nagpal said.

Speaking to MiD DAY, a field engineer from a leading DTH company based in Delhi, said that they first learnt about such cases when subscribers residing in sectors 62 and 63 of Noida complained to them about poor transmission quality and freezing of pictures. The field engineers discovered that some device was being used to stop the transmission of signal from INSAT 4A to the Ku band, the official platform used by the DTH service providers for transmission of programmes. Interestingly, an area of approximately 4 to 5 km in radius was affected from the point where the jammer was installed. Even in Mumbai the effect of the jammers was similar.

Under lock and key
"Our tracer led us to Shatabdi Rail Vihar in Noida, a ground-plus-9-floors building. The difficult part was to find the device that was emitting this signal that was degrading DTH reception. We finally zeroed in on a water tank and climbed it to find a crude metal box with a feed protruding out. The box was locked and was chained to the tank. The device was cleverly hidden; it was not visible unless one climbed onto the tank.

On investigating further we found inside the box a Ku transmitter emitting the signal causing the interference. On switching off power to the box, the interference was gone and reception problem in the entire area was resolved. Three cable operators were arrested by Noida police and the entire cache of equipment seized," said the engineer.

However, according to the engineer, the Noida case could be resolved as the jammer was in continuous 'switched on' mode. "But in Mumbai the miscreants are quite intelligent. They keep the jammer in 'switched on' mode only during crucial telecasts and it is switched off at other times, making it difficult to be detected," he added.

Moreover the affected areas in Mumbai have too many high-rises and to scan the entire area is a mammoth task. But all DTH service providers affected by the menace have roped in technical experts to track down the devices. "We have received the application and will definitely try to find out why and how the signals have been tampered with and if any discrepancy is found appropriate action will be taken against those involved," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime), Nissar Tamboli, who is also the spokesperson for Mumbai police.

What service providers say
Anil Khera, CEO, Videocon D2H: "Soon after our call centres received phone calls from subscribers complaining about the picture quality, our field technical officers could immediately confirm that it was a local disturbance and not a satellite disturbance. This is a serious issue. If they can interfere with the satellite communication using jammers, then it is worrisome as they can also influence the security of the country."

Harit Nagpal, president, DTH Operators Association of India: "We have already zeroed-in on particular locations and details of the same have been furnished to the police to take appropriate action. The association will provide all required technical support to cops to detect the source of the disturbance. We do not look at it as an unhealthy competitive action, but rather are concerned about the very action being a serious security threat and hence expect stringent action against those involved. The analogue cable industry today serves about 90 million households with an approximate revenue generation of Rs 12,000-Rs18,000 crore annually. In comparison, DTH operators cater to 40 million households with revenue generation of nearly Rs 6,000 crore per year."

K Jayaraman, CEO, Hathway Cable & Datacom Limited: "We are the service provider who supply signals to cable operators, who in turn transmit the signals to households. Moreover we do not operate in the areas mentioned in the complaint and we are strongly against such acts, if they have been committed by somebody."



Source : Mid-Day