Thursday, July 06, 2006

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.


2 comments:

justavisitor said...

Tax on Hollywood, Bollywood movies, dramas, and commercials


July 6, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has slapped a controversial tax on foreign commercials, Hollywood and Bollywood blockbusters, dramas and sitcoms from July 1, with funds collected ploughed back to develop the local film industry.

The taxes range from 90,000 rupees for a 30 minute dubbed episode to a million rupees for each foreign commercial aired on local television channels.

"Its not a revenue enhancing measure, merely a policy directive to develop the local film industry, artistes are are now unable to showcase their talents because television stations are airing a lot of foreign content," treasury secretary P B Jayasundara told journalists Thursday.

The tax exempts Tamil language content as Sri Lanka produces very little of these programmes, explained Asoka Serasinghe, Chairman of the National Film Corporation.

"The tax is minute for station owners. For instance around 57 films are shown each week on television with nearly 50 of them being foreign," Serasinghe said.

In contrast, Serasinghe says, nearly 300 locally produced dramas are languishing on the shelves due to lack of airtime on television channels.

Jayasinghe said the tax was not a communal or racial issue, as authorities have exempted all documentaries, educational dramas, movies and children's entertainment from the tax.

He declined to say how many foreign films were imported into the country each year.

Industry watchers say local television stations air more than 1,500 movies, mainly English, Tamil and Hindu each year.

In an average week, English content on local stations is limited to about four movies, four dramas, music programs, adventure series, cartoons and two to three sitcoms.

Though native Hindi speakers are virtually non-existent in this island of 19.5 million people, subtitled Indian-made programs are common on local TV stations.

Sri Lanka has around three million English speaking viewers.

CATEGORY DURATION RATE
Tele drama or films if dubbed in

Sinhala or Tamil


For every 30 minutes or part thereof


90,000 rupees
Other tele dramas or films

For every 30 minutes or part thereof


75,000 rupees
Commercials

For any number of telecasts, during

the year, starting from the day the

certificate of clearance is

issued to the commercial


1,000,000 rupees

justavisitor said...

Cable TV providers case postponed

By T. Farook Thajudeen

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

The magistrate made this order when three separate cases filed by the CID against CBN Sat, LBN and Sat Net 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 net work 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 Sat Net was selling the equipments without a valid permit .They would be charged on those grounds.

Counsel for CBN sat 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 CBN sat.

Source:DailyMirror