Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Email to Swarnavahini Live @ 8 ........... 29th Aug 2006

The following email was sent to Swarnavahini today regarding the inconveniences done to CBNsat & LBN, its employees and the subscribers.

Dear Sir,

We are TV Radio Sri Lanka and we operate several blogs in this country that cater to the informational needs of the Sri Lankan public

TV & Radio Sri Lanka - http://tvradiosrilanka.blogspot.com/
CBNSat Forum - http://cbnsat.blogspot.com/
Comet Cable Forum - http://cometcable.blogspot.com/
LBN Cable TV Forum - http://lbncable.blogspot.com/

The first blog provides information about the Radio & TV Industry in Sri Lanka and the rest cater to the customers of the relevant Cable tv service providers. We are totally independant of the cable tv operators and any tv station.

Sir, the tv channel run by the EAP Group Swarnavahini was available on the CBNsat platform and was much clearer than the regular transmission.

As you may be well aware CBNsat and LBN were shutdown on false pretext on June 6th 2006.

However it is sad to note that Swarnavahini Live @ 8 is not providing any coverage of the court case involving CBNsat and LBN. Is it due to competition between the EAP Network channels and the channels available on CBNsat or is it because there seems to be politics involved behind the closure of these cable tv providers. We hope Swarnavahini is not avoiding the CBNSat closure news.

There are many subscribers inconvienced by the closure of these cable tv channels CBNsat (20,000 customers) and LBN (10,000 customers) having a total viewership of over 100,000.

Swarnavahini claims to be the most balanced news provider in Sri Lanka but we do not see it living upto it's reputation as being one of them.

We would like to request Swarnavahini to highlight the inconviences suffered by the subscribers of CBNsat as well as LBN and also to urge the authorities to allow CBNsat and LBN to restart operations.

There have been several people living in outstation areas who are unable to receive the Swarnavahini transmissions due to their location and have been enjoying the broadcast over CBNsat.

We hope that due consideration will be given and the plight of the customers, employees (over 300 employees) and the injustices suffered by the companies (LBN and CBNSat) will highlighted on Swarnavahini.

This email will be posted on the CBNsat blog without divulging your email address for all our readers to see.

Thanking you for your time

Admin - CBNsat Forum

For those of you who want to email Swarnavahini and tell them about your inconveniences regarding the closure of CBNsat and LBN please email them on "support@swarnavahini.lk" and indicate them to forward the email to the Managing Director.

1 comment:

justavisitor said...

Cable operator CBNSat seeks defence clearance

August 29, 2006 (LBO) – Cable operator CBNSat has sought Defence Ministry clearance to re-start transmission, as the company steps up its public campaign appealing to authorities to expedite their government approvals.

The local cable company was shut down in June this year and equipment of affiliate company SonicNet Technology sealed by authorities for allegedly operating without the required broadcast licenses.

The cable operator sought legal recourse and the courts recently allowed CBN Sat to begin transmission pending approval from relevant government authorities.

"We have sent our application to the Defense Ministry. They will file their findings by September 4 and we can submit our appeal by September 12," Dilani Nandasiri Legal Manager CBNSat told LBO.

"We have also applied for a license from the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation," she said.

Pending official paperwork, CBNSat was allowed to run test transmission.

"We can commence transmission within 30 minutes of getting clearance from court," Nandasiri said while declining to disclose losses incurred since the government sealed its equipment early June.

The local cable company has been carrying out its transmissions since mid 2005 and has more than 20,000 subscribers throughout the island.

Over 100,000 viewers in Sri Lanka enjoy CBNSat which has a maximum of 28 international TV channels and packages ranging from 500 to 1375 rupees, to suit consumer taste.