CBNSat On Line Petition receiving good feedback

We are getting a good response to the On Line CBNSat petition. Those of you who have not signed in, please sign in soon.

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/cbnsat/petition.html

This petition will enable you folks to get your voice heard. Please call, email, sms and tell your friends who have CBNSat connections about this petition and urge them to sign in.

We will not give up in this endeavor. The CBNSat Supreme Court hearing is to be held tomorrow 1st August 2006 and the Appeals Court hearing will be on 3rd August 2006.

Please join with the "CBNSat Subscribers Unite" to see CBNSat back on air. Please keep us updated on the latest developments regarding CBNSat.

CBNSat Subscribers Unite - On Line Petition

Yesterday was an important day for the subscribers of CBNSat as a group of subscribers met to discuss the actions that can be taken by CBNSat Subscribers as a whole. The name of the group is CBNSat Subscribers Unite.

At this meeting the customers came up with a plan to make the voice of customers of CBNSat heard.

Accordingly the group will meet with authorities and then hand over a petition to courts and then to the minister and eventually the president.

If none of the above work out it was decided to take legal action against the officials involved and we sincerely hope that the authorities will solve the matter before this stage.

All CBNSat customers please email cbnsat@gmail.com with your account number and please sign your online petition at

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/cbnsat/petition.html

Let's stand up for our rights as CBNSat Customers and forward this link to all your friends who are CBNSat Customers.

Police wrongfully seized equipment, CBNSat tells Court - Daily Mirror 28th July 2006

Consequent to a Writ application filed by SonicNet technologies (Pvt) Ltd,, known as CBNSat, seeking to restrain the respondents from operating their equipment, the Court of Appeal yesterday (27) issued notices on the respondents returnable for August 3.

The Bench comprised Justices K. Sripavan and Sisira De Abrew. Presidents Counsel Romesh de Silva with Sugath Caldera and Riad Ameen, instructed by G.G Arulpragasam appeared for CBNSat. Presidents Counsel Palitha Kumarasinghe with Ms. Indika Idroos appeared for the respondents.

In the application, Mass Media & Information Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, SLRC, TRC, the AG, the IGP, Chief Inspector U.K. Mahindadasa, Sub Inspector L. Tilak Bandara (all fo the Commercial Crime Unit, CID) were cited as respondents.

The petitioner complained that on June 6, 2006 the respondent police officers wrongfully and/or unlawfully and/or illegally without any right thereto sealed and/or seized the petitioners equipment and prevented him from using such equipment.

It contends that all material times it all been and is the owner and was in lawful possession of the equipment that was seized by the respondents with the claim that they did it purportedly under a magistrates order.

It maintains that the Magistrate did not order and/or authorise the sealing of the and/or seizure of the equipment.

The petitioner is asking the court to issue a Writ of Mandamus directing the Minister, the SLRC and the TRC to issue necessary licenses to the petitioner to conduct the operation it began from May 2005 upto June 6, 2006

By S.S Selvanayagam

CBNSat Newsletter - The Transparency Edition

CBNSat has released a newsletter and it is available for viewing on the following link. You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the file.

CBNSat Digital World July 2006 - The Transparency Edition

A lot of information regarding their technology used as well as the story behind the shutdown are given here.

We would like any lawyer who is a CBNSat Customer or any lawyer who is willing to help CBNSat Customers to contact cbnsat@gmail.com with your contact details immediately.

Lawyer Wanted

We are in need of a lawyer who is preferably a CBNSat customer or if you are a CBNSat customer who know's a lawyer who is willing to help a group of CBNSat Customers please email Lisura on cbnsat@gmail.com

We would like you to make contact with the above email address as soon as possible.

In addition we are getting information that CBNSat has filed a case in Appeals Court. Could others please confirm this? The news was supposedly broadcast over Rupavahini and anyone who heard the update is welcome to post the confirmation.

Extension of Deadline for Cable TV Licenses

The deadline for Cable TV Licenses has been extended, please refer the following link for a detailed report.

Refer Link Extension of Deadline for Cable TV Licenses

Keep updating the latest as the weekend progresses and do not forget the action plan, see post below. After going through the comments we feel that no one is sure what to do. How about all of you meeting for a start, just an idea. You guys and gals have to come up with the plan together with the LBN Customers, if nothing works out for them today.

Good Luck.

CBNSat Customers it is time to take Action

Here we are approaching another weekend. The confusion and madness that has gripped the media industry which began with the shutting down of cable tv stations is now continuing with the new taxes on local tv stations and the advertising industry.

In a few weeks time it will two months since this fiasco started and no one has given relief to the people who purchased the connections. The state of affairs in sri lanka is going down very badly and very soon we may be comparable to countries like North Korea. The temporary license is all but forgotten. We wish to thank "Dude" for putting up a really inspiring comment on this blog. Yes justice will prevail but let it not be dragged. We would like to urge His Excellency The President Mahinda Rajapakse to allow CBNSat to resume operations with immediate effect since the people have spent their hard earned money on this service.

This technology put Sri Lanka on par with developed nations in terms of satellite technology. We should be proud of a company going into technology like this and enabling all classes of people to have equal access to quality educational and entertainment programmes.

You the citizens of this country have to exercise your fundamental rights and will have to organise some kind of action plan. Just posting on this blog is not going to solve your problems. You have to continue writing letters to the authorities and now you have to take a step beyond this too. This blog is open for all to come up with a plan and organise some kind of campaign (no violence please, and not anything that will compromise the security plans step up by the Government) and get the authorities to give ear to the people.

There are several of you who post on this blog and we see that some do not post now because it is all post and no action. We asked you all whether to organise a meeting and nothing materialised because of low response. So we will not organise anything this time and we hand it over to you CBNSat customers to discuss using this blog, use sms, email and all forms of communication to get in touch with each other and come up with a plan. Then the authorities will definitely listen to all of you.

Please keep posting on this blog on any new developments as the weekend progresses. Good Luck to all of you.

CBNSat : The Never Ending Court hearing

It is confirmed. The court hearing for the CBNSat case has now been fixed for 1st August 2006 and according to reports the postponement was due to a request from the Minister of Media who said that he wished to intervene in this matter. Given this post are the reports on this court case that were published in The Daily Mirror, The Island and The Daily News. All of them pretty much say the same thing.

So looks like the customers have to wait till August 1st, 2006 and we wonder what the Minister wants to come to court and say. Hopefully it is something good and we sincerely hope that this situation will end at the next hearing. There is no mention whatsoever regarding the Temporary License issue. Looks like even the Attorney General is not respected these days, provided the news item in The Sunday Leader was correct. Since no one denied it, we have to assume that it is correct.

Anyway it looks like we should continue sending letters to the authorities and specially requesting H.E. President Mahinda Rajapakse to intervene and give relief to the people who have invested in purchasing this connection.

We hope that the Judges at the Supreme Court will see the injustice that has been done and issue a favourable verdict taking into consideration the plight of over 20,000 customers.

SC wants to hear Media Minister - The Daily Mirror 19th July 2006

The Supreme Court yesterday directed that the Media Minister and the TRC (Telecommunication Regulatory Commission) should be heard before proceeding with the fundamental rights violation case filed by SonicNet Technologies (Pvt) Ltd.

When the matter came up before the Bench comprising Justices Shirani A. Bandaranayake, Raja Fernando and Andrew Somawansa, President's Counsel D.S. Wijesinghe appearing for the Minister of Media and Mass Communication informed court that he had a proxy from the Minister. He said the Minister wished to intervene in the matter.

Court was of the view that before making a decision in this matter, court should hear the Minister and re-fixed the hearing to August 1.

Petitioner SonicNet cited Chief Inspector U.K. Mahindadasa, Superintendent of Police A.R. Vaidyalankara and Sub Inspector L. Tilak Bandara, all of Police Commercial Crime Unit-II, the IGP and the Attorney General as respondents.

Petitioner states that the Minister issued an External Gateway Operator License (EGO License) to operate until January 31, 2013 on the recommendation of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission. Since May 2005, it has been responsible for providing several television channels such as BBC World, CNN News and National Geographic Channel to over 20,000 homes throughout the island.

The petitioner alleged that on June 6, the first three respondents wrongfully sealed and seized its equipment and prevented it from using its equipment and operating its services.

Petitioner pleaded that the respondents claimed that they sealed and seized the premises under an order from the Magistrate. Petitioner contends that the Magistrate did not order or authorise to do so in his order and search warrant.

Petitioner is asking the court to grant compensation of Rs 100 million and an interim order directing the respondents to remove the seal and seizure of its equipment and not to obstruct it from using the said premises.

Additional Solicitor General Sathiya Hettige appearing on behalf of the respondents submitted that the EGO License that was issued to the petitioner permitted only to operate international telecommunication services by using the satellite. The police officers obtained a search warrant from the Magistrate of Colombo and executed the search warrant in respect of the premises at No 83 where Communique Broadband Network Pvt Ltd and CBN Sat Pvt Ltd were operating television broadcasting services to the subscribers by using the satellite without a valid license under the Rupavahini Corporation Act. He further said that the execution of the search warrant as ordered by the Magistrate did not constitute an administrative or executive action and therefore was a judicial act which did not attract the provisions of Article 126 of the constitution.

President's Counsel Romesh de Silva with Sugath Caldera, Riad Ameen and Evaj de Silva instructed by G. G. Arulpragasam appeared for the petitioner. Additional Solicitor General Sathya Hettige with Senior State Counsel Sumathi Dharmawardana appeared for the respondents.

By S.S. Selvanayagam and T. Farook Thajudeen

Supreme Court to hear Minister before considering Sonic Net FR application - The Island July 19th 2006

The Supreme Court will hear the Minister of Mass Communication and Media, prior to considering the Fundamental Rights violation application filed by Sonic Net Technologies (Pvt) Ltd., for leave to proceed.

The rights violation application was yesterday re-fixed for support on August 1st 2006.

D.S. Wijesinghe P.C, who appeared for the Minister told the court that the Minister of Mass Communications requested a hearing prior to granting leave to proceed with the petition.

The petitioner, Sonic Net Technologies (Pvt) Ltd., of George R. De Silva Mawatha, Colombo 13, had complained to the Supreme Court that, on June 6th, the CID sealed the transmission equipment although the Magistrate had ordered only an inspection of the premises and a report. The seizure of equipment and the sealing of premises had been unwarranted. The petition said the action of the CID was arbitary, and a denial of the petitioner's right to engage in the lawful occupation of choice. The petitioner had over 20,000 customers. The petitioner claimed excessive action by the police who went beyond what was ordered by the Magistrate.

Romesh De Silva P.C., appeared with Sugath Caldera instructed by G.G Arulpragasam for the petitioner.

Deputy Solicitor General Sathya Hettige appeared for the CID officials and the Attorney General.

The Bench comprised Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake, Justice Raja Fernando and Justice Andrew Somawansa.

Among the repondents cited in the petition are U.K Mahindadasa, Chief Inspector of the CID, Chandra Fernando, the IGP and the Attorney General.

By Chitra Weerarathne

CBNSat : TRC to be heard - Daily News 19th July 2006

COLOMBO: The Supreme Court yesterday decided that the Media Minister and the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) should be heard before the application for Leave to Proceed is considered on a Fundamental Rights application filed by SonicNet Technologies and CBNsat and fixed the matter for support again on August 1.

The decision was a sequel to an application made by President's Counsel D.S. Wijesinghe on behalf of Media Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, who sought to intervene in the application. The Court allowed the application for the intervention.

The Bench comprised Justice Dr. (Mrs.) Shirani Bandaranayake, Justice Raja Fernando and Justice Andrew Somawansa.

Petitioner Sonic Net Technologies (Pvt) Ltd. cited four officers attached to the Criminal Investigation Department including Inspector U.L. Mahindadasa and the Attorney General as respondents.

The Petitioner in his petition stated that he obtained a license to operate an External Gateway Operator License under Section 17 of Sri Lanka Telecommunications Act on 28th February 2003 by the Mass Communication Minister on the recommendation of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka. The Petitioner further stated that he was responsible for providing several television channels to viewers.

It was submitted on 6th June 2006 the 1st, 2nd & 3rd Respondents, namely CID Police Officers, wrongfully and unlawfully without any right seized the Petitioner's telecommunications equipment and prevented the Petitioner from operating its services and pleaded the petitioner's fundamental rights as guaranteed by Articles 12, 12(1) and 14(1)(g) of the Constitution have been violated.

Sathya Hettige, PC Additional Solicitor General appearing on behalf of the Respondents submitted that the External Gateway Operator License that was issued to the Petitioner permitted the Petitioner only to operate an international telecommunications service by using a satellite and he further submitted to court that the Police Officers obtained a search warrant from the Colombo Magistrate and executed the search warrant in respect of the premises where Communique Broadband Network Pvt. Ltd was operating television broadcasting services to the subscribers by using a satellite without a valid license under the Rupavahini Corporation Act.

Hettige further submitted that the execution of the search warrant as ordered by the Magistrate did not constitute an administrative or executive action and therefore was a judicial act which did not attract the provisions of Article 126 of the Constitution.

He told court that the Petitioner filed revision papers against the order of the Magistrate and sealing of the equipment by the Police and the High Court Judge refused to grant the stay order. The Revision application is still pending, and there is no fundamental rights violation as alleged by the Petitioner.

When the above application was supported by the President's Counsel for the Petitioner, an application was made to court by Mr. D.S. Wijesinghe, PC and Mr. Palitha Kumarasinghe, PC that the Media Minister who is the license issuing authority under the Rupavahini Corporation Act and the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission should be made necessary parties to the application.

After submissions by both Counsel, Justice Shirani Bandaranaike, Justice Raja Fernando and Justice Andrew Somawansa decided that the Media Minister and the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission should be heard before the application for Leave to Proceed is considered and fixed the matter for support again on 1st August 2006.

Romesh de Silva, PC, with Sugath Caldera instructed by G.G. Arulpragasam appeared for the petitioner.

ASG Saththya Hettige PC appeared for the respondents.

The hearing was fixed for August 1.

CBNSat Supreme Court Case postponed to 1st August 2006

They have done it again. Our friends sorry I mean the legal system which belongs to never never land have postponed the case to August 1st 2006 again.

The best part is that in light of certain decisions given by the Supreme Court with regards to a newspaper, etc we can have some faith in the Supreme Court. Does anyone know who the judge is?

We are not sure of the reason why the postponement took place but we are made to understand that the judge has asked the TRC and the Media Ministry why CBNSat has been closed down and asked them to give the reasons at the next hearing. They have been giving several reasons for the closure in the previous Magistrates Court hearings that they will have to give a proper reason this time since this is the Supreme Court. The best part is that we do not think that they can come to court and say that they had no time since they are dealing with the Supreme Court here.

Anyway we are not 100% certain of what transpired in the Supreme Court today and we would like our fellow bloggers and CBNSat customers to keep us posted on the story as the day progresses. We would also like to request all our fellow bloggers to continue to put pressure on the authorities by sending them letters, until the system is back on air.

We are also getting unconfirmed reports that LBN reps are saying that LBN will get their license on Friday 21st July 2006. Please click on the link below for that full story.

LBN license to be issued on 21 July 2006 : LBN Reps

Head of MTV please watch your words

Looks like the District Court case for CBNSat yesterday did not work out, but today is the Supreme Court hearing, is it confirmed and what time is it? Today is the LBN case too.

There is some hope in this but non of us can be certain due to the recent developments in the media front. Please keep us posted on the latest developments and the result of today's hearing.

It is indeed very sad to hear Mr. Chevan Daniel Head of MTV speaking unneccesarily and stating that the tv companies are legitimate businesses and have proper licenses. Mr. Chevan you were obviously hinting at CBNSat & LBN. Shame on you for pointing fingers at others when you guys should all be together to bring down this cordinated effort to bring down the private media in sri lanka. What did Action Tv's and all the others do when people were struggling without Cable TV (TNL is the only station doing something), you guys were obviously happy, due to reasons best known to everyone.

Yes CBNSat & LBN have a license issue but you have no right to use it for your advantage. All of you must stand united otherwise all of you will get spanked.

You are an educated man you and should obviously understand that what is happening to the Cable TV channels is grossly unfair. Watch out Mr. Abey might call all of you illegal.

We are hoping for a positive outcome on the CBNSat case today.

Court refuses interim order in CBNSat Case - Daily Mirror 18th July 2006

Colombo District Court Judge Aruna C. Ranasinghe yesterday refused to issue an interim order to restrain the CID from preventing the Plaintiffs entering their company premises, in an application filed by SonicNet Technologies (Pvt) Ltd.,, the Cable TV station which was sealed following a CID search operation.

Ther satellite tv station had noticed three police officers Chief Inspector U.K Mahindadasa OIC, CID Cmmercial Crimes Unit-11, SSP Ravi Waidyalankara and SI Thilak Bandara.

Plaintiff SonicNet Technologies (Pvt) Ltd., of 83 George R. De Silva Mawatha, Kotahena affliated company of CBNSat (Pvt) Ltd., had sued CID officers personally asking for an order and also demanding Rs 50 Million as damages.

Plaintiff informed court that SonicNet was continuing its transmission on a license granted by the TRC. Plaintiff claimed that on several occasions it had assisted the SLRC to conduct its transmission from places to which it had no access.

SonicNet stated that on June 06 2006, the defendant CID officers visited the Plaintiffs office with a search warrant issued by the Magitrates Court of Colombo, to search the premises. At this stage the CID, acting illegally and unlawfully, shutdown, disconnected, and sealed the licensed telecommunication system, CBNSat, of the plaintiff.

Plaintiff asked the Court for a declaration that the alleged act by the CID officers was illegal and estimated the damage caused to it at Rs 50 Million.

Supreme Court hearing tomorrow?

Another weekend has passed. Is the Supreme Court hearing of CBNSat tomorrow confirmed? We wonder how many of our fellow bloggers watched the "Rhythm of Life" programme on TNL TV on saturday. It was an informative programme and the opinions expressed were much stronger than in the previous Benchmark programme.

The important point was that the explanations were in English and Sinhala both. Enabling a larger cross section of the public to watch and understand the interview.

A new fresh revelation has been published in the newspapers about Mr. Tv Lanka. He is making better reading than our politicians these days. New and interesting revelations and too big to publish here. Those who did not get a copy of the paper please purchase one today as you will get it at some news stands.

An interesting letter was published in the Daily Mirror today regarding the closure of CBNSat and LBN with some interesting remarks.

We would like to urge our fellow bloggers to continue sending letters to the concerned authorities urging them to restore tranmissions.

Wonder how much hope we can have the on the Supreme Court hearing?

Double Standards by Authorities

Looks like in Sri Lanka we have a lot of double standards been enforced. The Media Ministry which previous said that they need three months to draft licenses for satellite broadcasts have gone ahead and given the green light for "Srilakvahini". There was a mention in court that since CBNsat were planning to expand to other countries they will have to enforce proper rules and regulations whereas "Srilakvahini" has been given approval and their aim is the same thing. The difference is that "Srilakvahini" is a FTA channel but CBNSat is a Pay TV channel bringing invaluable foreign exchange into the country. Get your priorities right people.

Is this fair? People have already acquired the services of certain providers and they are still shutdown but new ones are allowed to start. Please read LBO Reports New Sri Lankan satellite channel takes off, beaming to the region. The report mentions that Mr.Nalin Attygalle, Director Operations and International Marketing said that there are about 25,000 people who have bought Satellite equipment and are unable to use it. Mr Attygalle please do understand that the 25,000 people with CBNSat antenna's bought the dish to view International programming from channels such as Discovery Channel, Nat Geo, BBC, etc and not for viewing local channels carrying local language programming. So if you are targeting this 25,000 people your company will be a failure from the start. Anyway Good Luck in your business, be careful of Mr. TV Lanka since he might say that you started using his license. So did you? The difference in business models between CBNSat and Srilakvahini means that they will not be in competition with each other, since each is in a class of it's own but Srilakvahini will be in direct competition with TV Lanka.

The Law should be enforced irrespective of Race, Religion, Cast, Financial Status, Political Affluence but looks like the opposite is happening. Remember please do not raid Future Satcom's offices and close down their offices instead remove the seal on CBNSat and LBN.

We urge our fellow bloggers to continue to put pressure on the authorities concerned and well done Mr. Parakrama Dambawinne from Kurunegala for your eye opening letter in the Daily Mirror today. Looks like the temporary license news has slowed down our efforts and since there is no news about the temporary license, we should continue to put immense pressure on the authorities concerned using letters sent by registered post. Remember E Mail is useless and is unofficial. Please keep updating this blog throughout the weekend and just for information's sake with tomorrow there is yet another month more for the next magistrates court hearing on August 15th. We should put pressure until transmissions are resumed and not slow down when promises are made by the authorities. The Supreme Court hearing is supposed to be scheduled for next Tuesday 18th July 2006. Can anyone please confirm this and is this the first or second hearing as we are hearing conflicting reports.

Mr. Attorney General please intervene and get this sorted out. A new Satellite provider is started when the authorities say there is no law in the country permitting satellite broadcasts, but existing ones are kept shut. THIS IS NOT FAIR.

The latest scoop on CBNSat

Get the latest news about CBNSat on Saturday 15th July 2006 on Rhythm of Life on TNL TV.

Sorry I forgot to enter the time. It is at 6PM.

Liar, Liar Abeywardena's Pants on Fire

Hey Abey how are you dog. Personally it is very good that we saw you on TV Lanka last night or else we would have thought you were the Clerk at TV Lanka if we visit the TV Lanka office.

Anyway it was an interesting case of a Dog praising it's own tail while sitting in it's own kennel.

He had some interesting comments about the massage advertisements been printed on The Sunday Leader (just in case he forgot even the other newspapers carry these advertisements). He must be a frequent reader of the classified ads on massage because he seems to know a lot about it.

His command of the English Language is nothing short of excellent, it was so excellent that the pronounciation of some of the words was far better than the British themselves.

Now to the core of the interview, here are some of the facts that he made

• He kept saying at the interview that there are several things that he knows about CBNSat but says those are things that he cannot reveal to the public. If he has the guts he should have come out with them. Probably he knows nothing, Liar.
• He alleges that CBNSat got BOI approval using his license and that he got a call from a FRIEND at the BOI congratulating him on the opening of a new TV station. He supposedly got confused and asked what it was and the FRIEND mentioned the name CBNSat and also told him that they forwarded his license for approval. Then he says that he forgot about the whole issue. Hey come on when someone says that another business is operating with your license how come you just forgot about the whole issue. Liar
• He also says that he wants to show about Sri Lanka and it's capabilities to other countries but he does not think highly of people who show about the capabilities of foreigners to Sri Lankans. But he has sent a letter to the authorities offering to operate CBNSat and LBN under his license he will do anything for money. Liar
• His Excellency the President is supposed to have asked him whether he can give a relief to the customers of CBNSat and LBN. I am sure the president will not do anything like that. Liar
• He is crying over the fact that The Sunday Leader refers to our president as MR. Wake up man, our previous president was referred to as CBK and even former US President Kennedy is referred to as JFK.
• He also said that LBN has no money and will eventually close down anyway. Liar

There are more dumb things that were spoken, and everyone who saw the interview will bear witness to that.

Everyone will agree that The Sunday Leader has done a marvelous thing by exposing corrupts like Abey. A big thank you to Mr. Lasantha and Dilrukshi for exposing this maniac who compared CBNSat to Kasippu sellers.

By the way Sunday Leader do not use big English words such as "Sudden", etc since this guy cannot understand what is on the papers, since he has a diffculty in comprehending sentences. The only thing he can read and understand is the classified massage advertisements.

Conclusion : SHUTDOWN TV LANKA

Special Programme on TNL Yesterday?

Information is being received by us that there was a special TV programme on TNL about the CBNSat issue yesterday.

Can anyone please post here what was said in this programme? Was there any special revelation in the programme that we should all know about? Those who watched this programme please post details.

Are there any repeats of the programme on any other day?

With regard to the issue of Temporary License there is no news as yet and we are made to believe that CBNSat is playing it safe about releasing the information on the temporary license, since we cannot be sure what the Media Ministry will come out with.

We are also getting reports that CBNSat is going to forward any letters received by them from customers to relevant authorities.

Please keep us updated on the latest developments.

Temporary licenses to be issued

Well it has been a long weekend and a lot of things happened with regards to the cable tv crisis in Sri Lanka. We like to thank all of you who have been updating this blog while all of us were away enjoying the holidays.

The Sunday Leader reported that the Attorney General had directed the Media Ministry to issue temporary licenses to both CBNSat and LBN. He has also stated that if there are any security concerns, he has directed the Media Ministry to enter into an agreement with the operators. When contacted by the Leader, the Ministry has said that he will comply with the Attorney General. We hope he does so soon.

In other very revealing news, it has been revealed by The Sunday Leader that Mr. B.A.C Abeywardane who is the Managing Director of TV Lanka seems to be also one of the people behind this scandal, he seems to have had a hand in instigating this issue and has also written letters offering to restart the CBNSat and LBN under his license and management. Looks like he is civic minded too, too bad no one watches TV Lanka.

Looks like the whole plan was to take over a company and do business in a company where someone else had done all the hard work of building up. He seems to be having a case against him filed by SLT.

It is also reported that CBNSat have appealed to the Supreme Court although the date of the hearing is not known.

Well lets see what happens as the week progresses and lets hope that all the Cable TV operators are able to resume services as soon as possible. Please keep updating us on the latest developments.

Very Important Information for Customers

There is some very important information for Cable TV customers in this so please read on till the end.

Last night marked the first month since CBNSat was shutdown and looks like we will have a second month too without CBNSat. The best thing would have been to carry out investigations while allowing CBNSat to resume transmissions and then barring them from selling anymore connections. We like to thank Mr. Vidarsha Dharmasena who has taken this matter to all authorities. A bit of advice to all of you who are appealing to the authorites, it is better to send them an official letter by postal services than email since the posted letter is more official than email. Since EMail is not taken as official communication at times. We hope someone can post the addresses of the following institutions.

1. The Presidential Secretariat
2. The Consumer Affairs Authority
3. The Media Ministry
4. The TRC
5. The SLRC

Those of you who want the services restored back can request these authorities to allow CBNSat to restore services. Remember you as citizens of Sri Lanka have a right to appeal. If we do so then we will be backing those people who have already sent the authorities letters.

We also found an interesting comment in this blog by "Dude" about an Organization called "Consumers International" apparently they fight for the rights of Consumers. Looks like the kind of people who are needed at the moment by the Cable TV customers.

Web Address is : http://www.consumersinternational.org/

We like to thank "Dude" for posting the comment about Consumers International. All their contact information is available on this site, if all of you are able to write to this organisation and request them for help, stating the situation in sri lanka regarding the cable tv scenario, there is a very good chance that they will help out. All CBN and LBN Customers should write to them.

Does anyone know what happened to the CBNSat and CID case yesterday, we hear that it has been postponed? If anyone knows further details please post them as comments. Well as we go into the weekend we would like all our fellow bloggers to keep updating this blog on any new developments and NEVER SAY DIE.

Please note that if any of you have sent letters to the authorities and you would like all our fellow bloggers to read them, please post them as comments in the blog. We did post some letters from individuals in the main blog page and as we get more letters it is becoming more difficult for us to post all the letters in the main blog page. Therefore we will choose certain letters and post them on the main blog page but please post all your letters as comments.

Cable TV providers case postponed (Daily Mirror 7th July 2006)

Magistrate Gihan Pilapitiya yesterday ordered CBNSat and LBN to keep their services closed until August 15.

The magistrate made this order when three separate cases filed by the CID against CBNSat, LBN and SatNet were taken together for inquiry.

Senior Sate Counsel Gihan Kulatunga appearing with the CID informed court that the investigations would be completed by next week and thereafter they would file charges against the cable channel networks. He also stated that CID would not object to reopening the networks with the consent of the minister.

Counsel for the Media Ministry Hemantha Warnakulasuriy PC making his submissions stated that from the inception of Cable channel network in Sri Lanka irregularities had taken place in the process of granting approval to function. The media ministry was now seriously concerned about it. The ministry was taking necessary measures to regularize the faults,which would take a fairly long time . Therefore a long date could be fixed for the next inquiry.

Kuvera de Zoysa Senior Counsel for LBN network in his submission stated that the B report filed by CID in court did not reveal any offences committed by his client. Therefore shutting down his net work was an injustice against him. He asked court to grant him permission to reopen his service..

Senior Counsel for Sat Net network Anuja Premaratne informed court that the provisions in the TRC act could only apply for the transmissions that were decoded within Sri Lanka Further he stated that his client was noticed to appear before court on criminal charges.

The law specifically states that in such a situation the charges should be clearly stated in the B report but the B report of the CID did not mention any charges. In a situation like that it was the court that had the jurisdiction but not the minister. Therefore he cannot be charged for violating any law...

At this stage state counsel informed court that SatNet was selling the equipments without a valid permit .They would be charged on those grounds.

Counsel for CBNsat Riad Ameen stated that the CID carried on investigations without closing it since March . Therefore to grant them a short date for next inquiry..

The magistrarate after considering the submissions of all parties postponed the inquiries for August 15 and ordered CID to accelerate investigations of CBNsat.

By T. Farook Thajudeen

An Appeal - Vidarsha Dharmasena (An Email received by us)

Date:	Thu, 6 Jul 2006 11:55:10 -0700 (PDT)
From:	"Vidarsha Dharmasena"
Subject:	CBNsat Investigation/Licensing Issue
To:	secretary@presidentsoffice.lk, chairmancaa@hotmail.com.uk, caa.office@sltnet.lk, attorneygen@mail.ewisl.net, attorney@Sri.Lanka.net, counsel@Sri.Lanka.net, ratnayake@commerce.gov.lk, janakas@commerce.gov.lk, balachandra@commerce.gov.lk, ajayawickrama@commerce.gov.lk, sarath@commerce.gov.lk, wickramaratchi@commerce.gov.lk, chmn@rupavahini.lk, dg@rupavahini.lk, adgn@rupavahini.lk, ddgep@rupavahini.lk, ddgps@rupavahini.lk, ddge@rupavahini.lk, igp@police.lk, chandralaw@police.lk, sdigadmin@police.lk, sdigitrp@police.lk, dgtsl@trc.gov.lk
CC:	tvradiosrilanka@yahoo.com, editor@sundaytimes.wnl.lk, editor@sundayobserver.lk, prabath@unl.upali.lk

Dear Sirs,

I am writing this email on behalf of thousands of inconvenienced subscribers of CBNsat DTH TV service.

I live in a rural area with no access to Cable TV. I became a subscriber of CBNsat in October 2005 (when they introduced HBO on their network) by paying Rs. 18,900 and have been a very satisfied customer in terms of content, and reliability of service. I never questioned the viability of this business as they had made an enormous investment, as well as since it was a BOI approved venture.

This same technology (DVB-S Satellite Digital Video Broadcasting) is used all over the world to provide TV content to millions of households. (Example- DISH Networks-USA, DirecTV-India)

Those who reside in outstations have always lost out to the residents of Colombo (Especially in the case of English Language entertainment) as none of the commercial organizations are interested inproviding Cable TV services to rural areas due to high roll-out costs associated with Cable TV. Even terrestrial TV broadcasters like TVLanka, ETV and Dynavision are available only to the residents of Western Province.

However, with CBNsat, we've been able to access very high quality programming not available with any local TV service providers at an affordable price. The following is a breakup of the channels provided by CBNsat:

News : BBC World

CNN

Sports : ESPN

STAR Spotrs

Education : Discovery Channel

National Geographic Channel

The History Channel

Movies : HBO

HBO Signature

Cinemax

Action/Lfestyle/Reality TV : Reality TV

Adventure 1

Zoom

Fashion TV

AXN

Music : MTV (Music Television)

VH1 (Video Hits 1)

Cartoon/Kids : Nickelodeon

POGO

Cartoon Network

Animax

Tamil : Raj TV

Raj Digital

Local : ITN

Swarnavahini

TNL

Derana

This service has enabled me to broaden my horizons on the way I see the world unlike any other media network has ever been able to. But with the untimely stoppage of this service, we have lost our only source of quality entertainment and infotainment.

For example, we lost our chance to watch the cricket series between Sri Lanka and England. Although the one day series was telecasted on "Derana" this channel can be viewed only in Western and Southern provinces.

In a fast moving, rapidly changing world, it's vital that the peoples of a nation be provided with all means of obtaining information, in order to be competitive with the rest of the world. When the rest of the world is moving forward at warp speed, Sri Lanka seems to be moving back towards the Stone Age with irresponsible actions like these.

CBNsat has been given a "Guilty Until Proven Innocent" verdict. We also find it hard to understand why this investigation/licensing issue has been dragging for so long with no end in sight. If this current state of having CBNsat shut down continues any further, the business may collapse due to lack of revenue even if it's cleared to start operations once the regulations are drafted/investigations are complete.

We see advertisements for various DTH (Direct To Home) installations for FTA (Free To Air) channels being sold in Sri Lanka, yet no action has ever been taken against these companies and individuals. It seems that a large part of the issue stems from the fact that CBNsat uplinks it's signal from Sri Lanka. Had they uplinked the same signal from, say, India, and sold the receivers in Sri Lanka, they wouldn’t have been in this mess. In short, this is how they are treated for bringing in Valuable technology and creating employment opportunities in Sri Lanka.

This also sends a very negative message to investors who wish to make future high-tech investments in Sri Lanka.

I PLEAD with you to allow CBNsat to restart their operations ASAP. In the meanwhile, whatever investigations or regulatory activities necessary can be carried out in the background WITHOUT INCONVENIENCING THE CUSTOMERS.

Dear Secretary to the president,

Please forward this email to Hon. President Mahinda Rajapakse for his attention.

Yours truly,

Vidarsha Dharmasena

(The above letter was received by us by email. It is time for all of us to take some action and make sure we get our entertainment back)

There's a major security concern needing attention - Counsel (The Island 6th July 2006)

Colombo Additional Magistrate Gihan Pilapitiya adjourned proceedings , in the CBNSat case and the other two cases till August 15, to enable the police to file a plaint against any company if necessary. In making the order the Magistrate said any affected party could apply to the Minister and obtain his approval prior to that date. He said he would permit any party to re-open the case before that date and he would then make a suitable order.

President's Counsel Hemantha Warnakulasuriya, appearing for the Minister of Mass Media and Information, submitted to Court that as directed by the Court, he had arranged a meeting with the director and the technical staff of CBNSat and the Ministry. He said the meeting was held last friday and some important matters were discussed. There, a representative of the Defense Ministry had explained how their technicians had decoded the CBNSat transmission and were able to view the LTTE broadcasts. He said the representatives of CBNSat had no answer to that revelation.

At that stage President's Counsel M.L.M Ameen intervened saying that the LTTE bogey was being spoken about to prevent his client from carrying on a legitimate business, whereas others, who are broadcasting the same from India, are permitted to do so.

Counsel Warnakulasuriya told the court that he was not for a moment accusing anyone of being used by the LTTE, but there are many matters that have to be considered before issuing a license. For instance, there are many questions thatr have been raised by the officials of the Ministry. Why has CBNSat and the LTTE used the same Satellite Panamsat 12 satellite, to uplink and downlink signals? A major security concern needs ro be addressed, he said.

Earlier, Senior State Counsel Gihan Kulatunga tendered a report of the CID, wherein the CID had decided to obtain the assistance of the Interpol for further investigations in the CBNSat case.

To which Counsel Ameen, appearing for CBNSat, said the CID need not obtain the assistance of any other agency as his client would fully co-operate with the government and the CID to unravel any matter that has not so far been resolved. He pointed out that on the last occasion State Counsel Gihan Kulatunga had agreed to permit the broadcast by the channel until the matter was resolved by the government.

The senior State Counsel said that what was recorded was that, when the application is made and if the license issuing authority, the Rupavahini Corporation or the TRC, is willing to consider issuing the license, then they have no objection in permitting the CBNSat to broadcast.

The Magistrate Gihan Pilapitiya then pointed out that when the chairman of TRC Kanchana Ratwatte appeared in Court there was a suggestion that an amicable settlement could be reached.

Counsel Warnakulasuriya told court that according to the statement of accounts submitted with the proposal there were certain areas which needed thorough investigation. CBNSat representatives had told the Ministry that the total share equity was 59 million, but borrowings from non banking related parties were 119 million. They had also revealed that Satellite Panamsat 12 had given them 6 months free air time. They had also stated that they had decided to have transmissions to the Maldives and then to the entire South Asian Region. These projects, he said would then be beyond the control of the Ministry and it was necessary to formulate rules and amend the Act to have rules governing this broadcast.

Magistrate : What about the other Television Stations like SatNet?
"The same rules apply to all. We will not permit of issue a license to any one of them unless they come within the criteria adopted by the government,"

Counsel Ameen then said that inspite of the order made by the Magistrate, Satnet was still broadcasting from India. And, the accused in that case was commiting contempt of Court. He requested the Magistrate to release goods seized by the CID to enable them to resume broadcasting.

At this stage, the Magistrate said that as the inquiries are not concluded he was compelled to give a long date.

Counsel Kuvera De Zoysa said that as far as his client was concerned, LBN Cable Television was local operation and that they have submitted their proposals to the Ministry and the Court should permit the channel to operate while the government and the Rupavahini Corporation can supervise. They had been in operating without any security concern for many years.

Counsel Anuja Premaratne on behalf of Satnet said that as the television broadcast is from India, they have not committed an offence. Snr State Counsel Kulatunga stated that Satnet had imported on a vendor license after the institution of this case. "There was no vendor license to operate before. On that basis charges would be framed in due course. The company has changed its directors and furter investigation was necessary to file a plaint against the accused."

Counsel Warnakulasuriya said that the minister was not in a position to issue a license to anyone of these companies until the Act was amended. As far as the Ministry is concerned the Minister has obtained the cabinet approval to amend the Rupavahini Act and put in place regulations to control and any Television broadcast and it will require at least three months to have the amendments legislated.

Senior State Counsel Mr. Gihan Kulatunge appeared for the CID.
Mr. Hemantha Warnakulasuriya PC with Mr. Kavinda Pasqua instructed by Inoka Gamage appeared for the Minister of Mass Media and Communication.
Mr. M.L.M Ameem with Mr. Ian Fernando, Mr. Riyad Ameen instructed by Jogn Wilson appeared for the accused CBNSat.
Mr. Kuvera De Zoysa, instructed by Sudath Perera Associates, appeared for LBN cables.
Ar. Anuja Premaratne appeared for Satnet.

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Postponement is becoming part of strategy

Well looks like customers of CBNSat will have to wait another approximately One and a half months to hear knews about what is happening in CBNSat. Today also there is a court hearing on the supposedly illegal actions of the CID. But we figure that there is no use to hope on this hearing, unless a miracle happens.

Anyway it looks like to case is now postponed to the 15th August 2006 (some say 16th), we will have to wait and see only what happens.

Anyway below we have a post from Mr. Mohan Medis who has written to the consumer affairs authority and we urge all the customers of CBNSat and LBN to write to the TRC, Media Ministry, Consumer Affairs Authority, SLRC and even appeal to the President. We are sure the President will take action if the customers address their grievances to him.

There was a comment in this blog asking why we referred to Comet Cable yesterday in our final post for the day. Well like we mentioned since the media ministry is supposed to have told that they need more time to draft regulations, etc we raised the point that if Comet Cable can be operational till regulations are drafted then why is that CBNSat and LBN have to remain shut. They should open CBNSat and LBN and let them also to operate till the regulations are drafted, it was not asking the authorities to shutdown Comet Cable, or questioning the legality of Comet Cable and was merely a comparision. Since you questioned us on whether we like to have a suicide bomber living next to us, our reply is that we will not discrimnate against that person till they prove that he is a suicide bomber, like that if they prove that CBNSat carried out illegal activities like broadcasting the LTTE channel then non of us will make a issue out of this.

But this case has followed the following pattern

• Started off as LTTE investigation
• Then it came up as a no license issue
• Then it went into the content that they provide
  
• Then it went back to national security
  
• Now we have to wait till regulations are drafted

This case has not focussed on one issue and it makes everyone wonder that there is a sinister motive behind this issue. No one here will continue to support CBNSat if allegations against it are proven but remember since even the criminal has rights and all are "INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY".

Now there were posts saying that we deleted all posts saying refund, I do not believe that we did it and the posts that were deleted were from two fellow bloggers "JL" and "Vanatha Fellow" and the issue has now been sorted out. Our apologies on that issue.

Since there are many asking about refunds, we would like to say that CBNSat requires a letter addressed to them requesting for refunds although we are not certain to whom it should be addressed to. But try addressing it to the "Customer Services Manager", who is the person to whom normally customer complaints should be addressed to in any company. If anyone knows the correct person please do post the information here. CBNSat we believe has not refunded anyone's connection still, if anyone has got a refund please post how easy/difficult it was to get the refund. The stability of the company is now coming into question since the case is being postponed and no one is sure for how long the company can stay in business without an income since they have a huge staff to support and are also incurring expenses due to these court cases.

No one can answer these questions except CBNSat so if CBNSat can answer these questions it will clear many doubts that customers are having at present. Anyway for customers who want a refund it is best to start applying now and anyway we also feel that all customers of both providers should also write to the authorities concerned and also try to get these services back on track. It will not hurt to apply for the refund and also push the authorities concerned to restore the service since at least even if the customers do not get the service back they can at least have the money back and explore other avenues or they would be able to get the service back.

There are many questions to be answered over to the management of CBNSat and also to the authorities concerned. DO NOT FORGET THE CONSUMERS PLEASE.

To the CONSUMER AFFAIRS AUTHORITY - From a Customer

Given below is an email sent by Mr. Mohan Mendis to the Consumer Affairs Authority.

Guess it is now time for the CBN/LBN Customers follow the example from Mr. Mohan and write to the relevant people. Mr. Mohan is also forwarding email to all the newspapers in this country. This is being posted on this blog upon his request.

If anyone of you out there have sent letters or emails to any individual please post the sent email or letter under this post as a comment inclusive of your email address so that anyone can confirm the authencity of the email.

----Original Message-----

From: Mohan Mendis [mailto:mohan@sengroup.com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 05, 2006 12:25 PM
To: 'chairmancaa@hotmail.com.uk'
Cc: 'caa.office@sltnet.lk'
Subject: CBNSat Issue
Importance: High

Dear Sir,

I had the opportunity to watch part of your live discussion of ITN last night & I thought it was best that I direct my problem to you (assuming that you had not touched on the issue last night) as I don't think I have seen any press reports on your intervention on this fiasco that has been enacted between the CID & Cable/Satellite TV service providers during the last month or so.

It seems that neither CAA nor any other authority has made any consideration towards the 30-40,000 customers who have paid monies to obtain these TV broadcasts & have been left on the lurch because of some petty accusations, maybe even business jealousies, etc that have taken precedence over the rights of the consumer.

It is sad to note that our country seems to think we are still in the dark ages of consorship. Preventing access to media & entertainment at a price should be encourages when unrestricted information/entertainment is freely available on the Internet to any Tom, Dick or Harry who has a PC & a Telephone connection to enter the World Wide Web.

For that matter no Sri Lankan government up to now have prevented or stopped or even attempted to control the most ruthless & meticulous terrorist organization in the world, Tigers from acquiring latest technology, whether it is satellite phones or transmission of radio & tv signals from their so called de-facto country confined to only vanni areas.

So who is fooling whom, I believe it is your responsiblility to go public with your interpretation of this issue & give us guidance how we can achieve retransmitting of this suspended services without any further delay. It would be to your utmost credit if you can achieve this before FIFA finals are held. I wouldn't be surprised if football is also part of the problem for authorities!

So it is now over to you to respond what CAA has done so far on this matter & what you would advise as we subscribers do in this hour of need. Of course we do understand that it is best to form consumer soceities, etc. But until we to come to that as I believe there is come winds being blown towards that direction especially as far as these cable tv customers are concerned.

But we will never know what will happen in the future & whether the authorities will want to ban these groups only time will tell.

Appreciate greatly if you would be kind enough to response to my email ASAP with whatever advice & hope you can give me.

Many Thanks,

Kind Regards,

Mohan Mendis

Case delayed till 15th August 2006

The very efficient decision making process in this country has showed it's true colors again. Reports are coming in that the case is now put off till 15th August 2006. The reason's for postponement are still sketchy. Looks like it had to do something with industry regulation. Well just for pointers. If CBNSat and LBN are down till they regulate the industry then how come Comet Cable is allowed to operate still. We are not asking the authorities to down Comet Cable too, in fact we want them to do the opposite. Bring CBNSat and LBN back on line and then regulate the industry.

We would like our fellow bloggers to continue giving us information as the day progresses. With tomorrow it is a month since the system was shutdown. In a few more days it will be one month since LBN was shutdown.

Is CBNSat capable of staying in business so long without an income? The High Court hearing is scheduled to be held tomorrow, not much hope in that. If anyone has any reason to believe that we can hope in that please tell us why? Over to the management of CBNSat, what have you got to say?

Promotion requires permission - No Affliation with CBNSat

There is a certain controvesy going on in this blog regarding the credibility of this blog. I stress once again that we are not affliated and not operated by any Cable TV operator. What some of you are doing is the same the CID is doing to CBNSat. CBNSat is being linked to LTTE and some of you are linking us with CBNSat. We should all focus our attention on the present crisis.

Some of you are disappointed that we deleted some posts. We had to remove the post since if you want to promote any other forum which focuses on the same issue. Please send an email and get permission. We will check whether the link is genuine and then you can promote.

Please understand that we have to careful to see what type of sites are linked to this blog.

Originally this blog required registration for commenting. This requirement was removed to make it easy for our readers to comment. So I leave upto all of you please tell us whether you want us to reintroduce registration or continue this blog in the present way.

Please email tvradiosrilanka@yahoo.com for permission for promoting similar forums and also email us and tell us what you want us to do with the status of this blog with regard to registration.

IF YOU DO NOT REQUIRE THE SERVICES OF THIS BLOG PLEASE TELL US AND WE WILL CONSIDER STOPPING THIS EFFORT.

ONCE AGAIN WE STRESS THAT WE ARE NOT OPERATED BY ANY CABLE TV OPERATOR.

CBNSat 9th hearing today 5th July 2006

It is just a day away from it being one month since CBNSat was forced to shutdown tranmissions. There seem to be a number of hearings today. Although we are unable to obtain any confirmation looks like the District Court Case on the CID Officers is also today. In addition we think that the LBN hearing is also today? If anyone can confirm these it will be very helpful.

At the moment none of us wants to predict the outcome of these hearings though because they have become highly unpredictable. In anyway it looks like with this Interpol issue, we Sri Lankans will become the joke of the year at the Interpol offices.

Can anyone confirm why the CID wants to involve the help of Interpol, since every bit of information on this technology can be obtained from the Internet.

In fact even in India DTH licenses were not issued citing security concerns but 5 years ago they did a technical analysis and found that there was no security threat in relation to DTH technology and now they have licensed about 4 DTH providers out of which two are in operation at the moment.

So since we Sri Lankans are very good at following the Indian Model we wonder why we cannot follow the Indian Model in relation to licensing of DTH too.

Anyway it looks like PanAmSat has been taken over by Intelsat please follow link below

Intelsat completes acquisition of PanAmSat

Wonder whether the above acquisition will have any effect on the Sri Lankan case that is going on now since the Satellite that CBNSat uses is operated by one of the above two companies.

Anyway lets hope that some relief comes about the customers of LBN and CBNSat. Anyway we appreciate the fact of some of you guys posting messages here, but this talk has to be accompanied by action also and we are not getting good responses for the starting of a meeting which may lead to a Consumer Lobby. The option is still open it upto all of you out there to decide whether you want to form a lobby. We would also like to request our fellow bloggers to keep us updated on the latest from the Court room today.

CBNSat Case : The Interpol Affair

Well looks like this case is full of surprises. Now Interpol will be called into investigate this case. What a great group of people. CBNSat customers have spent their hard earned money on puchasing CBNSat connections and this is how consumer interests are served in this country.

The Sunday Leader Investigative report clearly states that the Ministry of Defense has no knowledge about any links between the LTTE and CBNSat and also of any security concern from CBNSat. So how come the CID is raising this issue without the knowledge of the Ministry of Defense. The BOI has also told the Sunday Leader that for a project of the nature of CBNSat, BOI status will be granted only after the TRC, SLRC and all relevant licenses are obtained. So how come now the license issue came up. Did the BOI not know about the licenses that should be taken.

Looks like a clear cut case of squeezing CBNSat to death. The LTTE and CBNSat may be using the same satellite but CBN's Decoder is locked and cannot be used to receive the transmissions. The fact is that security threats are always there and if Sri Lanka is not open to implement new technologies then we will be left lagging behind the rest of the world. There should be ways of implementing security without stifling the use of technology.

It is high time a customer lobby group was formed, because you as customers have a right to a service that was paid for. Hence either email tvradiosrilanka@yahoo.com expressing your interest for a meeting or someone take the initiative and form the group. Our previous post asking you to submit your interest for a meeting did not receive many responses due to what we feel is the insecurity in the minds of people. But it is now high time to either express your interest in meeting up and allowing us to arrange for all of you or one of you to take the initiative and form a lobby group.

All concerned in this case have forgotten the consumers who are rightful citizens of this country.

CBNSat Case : CID seeking assistance of Interpol - Daily Mirror 4th July 2006

The CID informed the Magistrates Court yesterday that they were seeking the assistance of Interpol for their investigations into the CBNSat case. They filed a further report of their investigations into the CBNSat case before the Additional Magistrate of Colombo Gayan Pilapitiya.

Senior Stare Counsel Gihan Kulatunge, appearing with the CID, stated that they would not object to the operations of the CBNSat Network, if they TRC or Rupavahini Corporation sanctions them to do so. Senior Counsel appearing for the Media Ministry Hemantha Warnakulasuriya, P.C stated that the CBNSat and the LTTE were using similar frequencies to transmit their programmes. There was a possibility for the LTTE to make use of this channel to transmit their messages. It would become a threat to the security of the country. Therefore, Court should afford serious consideration before reopening transmissions.

Senior Counsel for CBNSat, M.L.M Ameen said that the CID and their Counsel made those allegations to cover up their previous mistakes. While other similar satellite channels were functioning, his service has been shutdown without any reason. He also said that similar frequencies were used by other satellite communicators.

The Case was put off for July 5th.

CBNSat Court hearing postponed to 5th July 2006

Looks like the great Sri Lankan judicial system have done it again and they seem to be dragging the case to the frustration of thousands of Cable TV subscribers who have purchased connections from CBNSat.

The case is now postponed to 5th July 2006. Information coming in seems to be sketchy but it seems that the media ministry wants to clarify some information. Hopefully more reliable information comes in as the day progresses and our fellow bloggers will keep us updated on the information as time passes.

Looks like the officials do not have any concern for the subscribers involved in this issue, is this how the citizens are treated in this country.

CBNSat 8th hearing today 03rd July 2006

Today happens to be the 8th Court hearing of CBNSat and we are just 3 days away from it being month since CBNSat was taken off air. Well on friday at approximately 9PM, CBNSat was on air for just about an hour.

The CBNSat presentation to the media ministry was supposedly held on Friday morning. The Daily Mirror of Saturday 01 July 2006 carried a news report saying that the Media Secretary had said that there is no regulation in Sri Lanka for satellite broadcasting. The CBNSat presentation was held before the Media Secretary and the Sri Lanka Army officials. The Media Secretary has also made a statement saying that he will forward a report to the Media Minister on the presentation.

We hear that there was a article in the Sunday Leader of 2nd July 2006 about titled "Cable TV Fiasco", we would like to request anyone of you who has access to this article to please post it as a comment on this forum.

In addition the Benchmark programme on the Cable TV issue was done by well known journalist Savithri Rodrigo. There were interviews with the CEO of CBNSat and ARUNA SAMARAJEWA, Partner – Nithya Partners. There was a remark made by Nithya Partners that this issue could have been settled much faster. Looks like the judical system is playing up on the people. The CBNSat CEO was seen taking a more diplomatic perspective which has upset many CBNSat Customers but it should also be said that since this matter is now in courts there may be certain restrictions on the people involved in this case. However we are not legal experts and if there are any legal experts here hopefuly they can clarify the positions taken by the people who were interviewed.

Anyway with tomorrow it will be four weeks since CBNSat was taken off air and in other 3 days it will be a month. At least let's hope that it will be sorted out today. There is no confirmation however on what time the hearing will be held and also whether it is an Open Court or Chamber hearing. Anyone who has information on this is welcome to comment and also please keep all the readers updated on the outcome of todays hearing.