CBNSat Forum

Moved to http://dialogtv.blogspot.com/

2007-06-08T13:06:00.000+05:30

Please visit the address given below

http://dialogtv.blogspot.com/

One Year Commemoration on 6/6/2007

2007-06-06T10:30:00.000+05:30

Exactly one year ago on June 6 2006, (6/6/6) CBNsat (now known as Dialog TV) was unfairly sealed and shutdown by authorities.

We have made a post commemorating this event on the successor forum to the CBNsat Forum known as Dialog TV Forum - One Year ago on a day like this (6/6/6).

This blog will be celebrating its one year anniversary on June 7th 2007 and as a result of all this we have enabled commenting on this blog for a period of 24 hours.

Please make comments only related to the commemoration of the closure and also anniversary of the blog, any general discussions can be carried out on the Dialog TV Forum.

The Dialog TV blog address is http://dialogtv.blogspot.com/

Moved to New Address

2007-02-12T09:23:00.001+05:30

FROM FEB 12TH 2007 THIS BLOG IS FUNCTIONAL AT THE ADDRESS GIVEN BELOW

http://dialogtv.blogspot.com/

THIS WAS DUE TO THE RELAUNCH OF CBNSAT AS DIALOG TV

If you are here to learn about the CBNsat that was existing before Dialog TV we suggest that you sit back and start reading the posts from the very beginning.

CBNsat Forum - June 7th 2006 to Feb 12th 2007

Goodbye CBNsat

2007-02-09T14:06:00.000+05:30

This is the last informative post on the CBNsat Forum. On Feb 10th CBNsat will be no more and Dialog TV will take its place. On certain FTA television stations teasers are being carried out in view of this launch.

Since its inception CBNsat has been making waves in the pay television industry and brought with it a certain dynamism to the market which has never existed before. All that was short lived when the authorities shut it down under controversial circumstances. After a long court battle which saw the company off air for 6 months, the company was taken over by dynamic mobile phone service provider Dialog Telekom. With the take over the founding chairman Mr. Muhunthan left the ranks and handed the company over to the new management.

This blog which was birthed on June 7th 2006 wishes to thank all the subscribers of CBNsat who were updating this site on a very regular basis and for the support given by all. The formation of CBNsat Subscribers Unite was a very notable feature during the months of the shutdown, since for the first time the subscribers of a service grouped around each other to fight for their rights.

This blog will continue to be online as long as possible and will cater to those who want to know what happened before "Dialog TV" came to being and then eventually we will be taking this blog off line.

The "Dialog TV Forum" is now online at dialogtv.blogspot.com

At the moment the new blog has no features like "commenting" turned on and has a single introductory post. However on Monday 12th Feb 2007 the blog will launched and made fully functional and we invite all our fellow bloggers to continue their interesting conversations on that blog. Till Feb 12th this blog will be fully functional and on Monday all commenting features will be disabled and as soon as the new blog is launched, we will make a post directing all traffic to the new address. We once again request all those who have linked to this blog and have subscribed to the feeds to update their links to the new URL.

Dialog aiming to have similar success in pay television

2007-02-09T09:53:00.000+05:30

At the launch of Dialogs pay television "Dialog TV" service yesterday. The CEO of Dialog Telekom Hans Wijesuriya expressed his vision of making pay television accessible to the consumer like they did with the mobile phone industry.

They had also expressed their intention of expanding the service to 50 channels in the future and have more subscription plans in addition to their present Rs 500, Rs 900 & Rs 1400 plans.

Sri Lanka's largest mobile operator to widen access to satellite pay TV - LBO

Certain Zee Channels off air

2007-02-09T09:44:00.000+05:30

Some Zee channels on the CBNsat platform are not in operation since yesterday in what looks like a technical failure.

Only Zee Music seems to be working out of all the channels that are available on the Zee package.

We would like our fellow bloggers to update us as soon as the Zee Channels are restored.

Dialog TV Forum launching on Feb 12th

2007-02-08T12:52:00.000+05:30

With the launch of Dialog TV scheduled on Feb 10th, we will be launching the Dialog TV Forum on Feb 12th. At the moment the commenting feature is turned off in that forum but it will be fully functional on Feb 12th.

The new URL is http://dialogtv.blogspot.com/

All our fellow CBNsat bloggers are requested to update their feeds and bookmark the site and all those providing links to the site are requested to update the URL to point to the new address given above.

Admin
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The below is from Subscribers Unite

Dear Fellow Subscribers,

With the launch of Dialog TV the CBNSat Subscribers Unite will also change its' identity to

Dialog TV Subscribers Unite

Our new email is dialogtv@yahoo.com with effect from today (8th Feb).

The new blog address will be http://dialogtv.blogspot.com/

(Will be launched on 12th February 2006)

Please keep on sending your comments in any aspect, regarding Dialog TV.

Your suggesions will be very useful to Dialog TV to bring in a quality service to its' subscribers.

Thank you.

Dialog TV Subscribers Unite

February 10th CBNsat becomes Dialog Tv

2007-02-08T09:13:00.000+05:30

On 10th February 2007 CBNsat will be officially rebranded to Dialog TV and will take on a whole new identity.

At the moment the new website is now up and running and can be accessed at www.cbnsat.com or www.dialog.lk/en/tv/

The monthly programme guide for most of the channels can be downloaded at this website and we believe that they will add the other channels into the guide as time progresses.

In addition a brand new helpline is also available on 077-7679679. These are some of the major changes that will come into effect in light of the launch on Feb 10th.

We are also receiving unconfirmed reports about an informal consent given by MBC networks to put all their channels on the platform within the next two months.

Please keep us updated on the latest on Dialog Tv and its launch as the days progress.

ITN is back on CBNsat

2007-02-08T08:50:00.000+05:30

ITN which was the first local channel that was made available on CBNsat when it was launched has now come back as of last evening. They have thereby taken one of the three channels that was reserved. Now there are still two more reserved channels which have been allocated for Rupavahini and Channel Eye. Hopefully they hop aboard CBNsat very soon.

Interesting Developments

2007-02-06T11:04:00.000+05:30

Many new developments have taken place on CBNsat over this last weekend. Channel Number One which was named as "CBNsat" but used to carry promotional material has been renamed as "Dialog TV". Even though the channel name has been changed the promotional material still carries the promotions under the name "CBNsat". The promotions being held at Singer Mega outlets also go as "CBNsat". The rebranding may be gradually done over a period of time but as of now we are unable to confirm anything regarding a planned rebranding.

In addition several customers have received letters announcing the take over by Asset Media and instructions to make all payments to Asset Media.

It also seems that certain new customers of CBNsat are able to view an EPG of certain channels with programming information for seven days. According to reports that we are receiving this facility will be extended to all CBNsat customers by March. However we hear that at the moment EPG for existing customers works only for HBO, Cinemax, VH1 and Nick. The AXN, HBO Signature EPG is not working anymore. It is better if CBNsat is able to implement the EPG with current and next programme for all channels available until they are able to update the decoder software and give the detailed EPG which some new customers are getting. A newsletter is also in the pipeline and should be available in the near future.

PAS 12 to become IS 12

2007-01-31T13:04:00.000+05:30

The satellite on which CBNsat operates which is called PAS-12 (Panamsat-12) is to be renamed to IS-12 which stands for Intelsat-12 on February 1st 2007.

This is as a result of some mergers and acquisitions that have taken place over a period of several years.

The PAS-12 satellite was initially known as Europestar and after Panamsat took over in July 2005 from Alcatel Space the satellite was renamed to PAS-12. However as a result of a merger between satellite giants Panamsat and Intelsat on July 3rd 2006, PAS-12 will be renamed to IS-12.

There are several satellites that are owned by Panamsat that will undergo a name change.

The PAS-12 satellite is supposedly more reliable compared to the satellites used by some Indian DTH providers such as Tata Sky. A few weeks ago it was reported that due to solar flares the Tata SKY signal was disrupted for more than 30 minutes. This solar flare did not affect PAS-12. Tata SKY uses INSAT4A which is operated by ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation). Soon to be launched DTH providers in India such as those to be operated by Airtel, Sun Tv, Reliance are expecting to launch on Indian satellites. Dish Tv and DD Direct DTH services are the only Indian DTH providers using non Indian satellites at present.

Transponder Space Wastage

2007-01-29T11:39:00.000+05:30

Ever since CBNsat started commercial operations, it seems that they are still having three locations reserved for Rupavahini, Channel Eye and ITN. We understand that it is important to have the local channels also on their lineup but what is happening now is such a wastage.

If Rupavahini, Channel Eye & ITN have to get approval from an authority for coming aboard the CBNsat platform then it is better for CBNsat to introduce some international channels and allocate the three state channels to transponder 3 which we hear will be available by end February or early March.

As a pay television operation priority has to be given to satellite channels over local channels. They have already signed up with Disney Channel and Toon Disney, so these channels can be allocated to those frequencies. In addition with the Sri Lanka-India Cricket series coming up they must make Neo Sports a priority since this can be used for marketing new connections prior to the series commencement. It should be noted that LBN has launched Neo Sports and will be making use of it to market it's new connections.

We hope that CBNsat gets SET Max before the World Cup starts. In fact CBNsat does not have to wait until the third transponder is active to launch SET Max. They could replace the present SET channel with SET Max in order to prevent the unnecessary increase of hindi channels on their lineup.

We are getting reports that even though TNL Radio, Lite and Asura are being indicated on the lineup it seems that they have not be activated as yet. We are unable to confirm this though.

CBNsat now at Singer Mega

2007-01-23T09:29:00.000+05:30

Singer Mega is also selling CBNsat connections these days since previously it was only the normal Singer outlet (now called Singer Plus) that were selling these connections.

We have also got news that CBNsat has been telling it's prospective customers that Star Tv package and Ten Sports will be available during the month of February and also that Rupavahini, Channel Eye and ITN will also be available by the end of this month. This is according to a few people who have inquired about CBNsat connections. In fact a blogger has also commented in our previous post about this.

It does seem probable since CBNsat will be acquiring their third transponder during february and it may just come to pass and Star Package, Ten Sports, Disney Channels and SET Max channels may be made available during february.

If it takes place as said then there will definitely be a massive increase in the subscriber base of CBNsat considering the fact that the ICC World Cup is in March and the first Twenty20 Cricket World Cup will be also held later this year.

Some Problems....

2007-01-22T11:28:00.001+05:30

It seems that there are some minor problems present in the CBNsat broadcast that is taking place over the last few days.

One is that mostly all channels on Transponder 2 are not able to update the time and therefore the EPG on VH1 and Nick does not update as well. This has been highlighted several times via this blog but nothing seems to be happening so far.

Another one being that on Saturday night the football matches on Star Sports seem to have had Hindi commentary instead of the English one. Usually the feed on Star Sports carries dual language for major events. So somehow or the other CBNsat seems to have selected the wrong language feed resulting in Sri Lankan's having to put with up a feed that they do not understand.

We hope that CBNsat would check into the above problems and sort them out as soon as possible so that the subscriber will have a pleasurable viewing experience.

VH1, Nick, HBO Signature gets EPG

2007-01-22T11:09:00.000+05:30

Things seem to be speeding up on the EPG front for CBNsat since over the weekend they seem to have activated the EPG for VH1, Nick and HBO Signature. However this is not the full EPG but contains the information about the present programme and the next programme only.

We hope the a fully fledged EPG with at least 7 days programming information is made available. Well at least it is nice to know that the management of CBNsat have realized that the EPG is a very essential part of their service and are taking steps to provide it as soon as possible.

AXN Electronic Programme Guide Now On

2007-01-19T08:38:00.000+05:30

According to some CBNsat Subscribers it seems that the Electronic Programme Guide on AXN is now functional on a similar pattern to what is available on HBO and Cinemax. This only shows the current and the next programme that is scheduled.

We hope that CBNsat will implement a fully functional and detailed EPG soon and will also sort out the problem regarding the time on transponder 2.

In addition there are reports that AXN has been taken off cable television providers for two months in India for transmitting obscene content on a programme called "The Worlds Sexiest Commercials".

For informations sake we would like to point out that the AXN that is being received in Sri Lanka is different and not the feed that is being received by the Indians since India is receiving AXN India. The controversial programme is not being aired on the AXN feed that is being received by local pay television channels. The ban will affect all cable television broadcasters in India only but we are not sure whether Indian DTH providers are also affected by the ban.

Existing Customers and Zee Cinema

2007-01-18T09:36:00.000+05:30

According to information received the existing subscribers of CBNsat who purchased their connections before the shutdown will not be getting Zee Cinema in there first or second package but they will continue to receive ESPN and Pogo according to the pre 6/6 package allocation.

The new package allocation on the website is applicable only to new connections and has no bearing on connections before 6/6.

CBNsat Subscriber Unite has also taken up the issue of the allocation of ESPN and Pogo to the Premium package with CBNsat and we hope that management will reconsider this move and allocate ESPN and Pogo back into the second package.

Package allocations causing stir

2007-01-17T09:37:00.000+05:30

The new package allocations are causing a stir among existing customers mainly due to the fact that ESPN and Pogo have been moved to the Premier Package and they are not sure the status of their connections as time progresses. In addition as said in the previous post the would be subscribers of CBNsat are also weary of this new package allocation due to the fact that ESPN and Pogo being basic pay television channels are being allocated to a high value package which contains commercial free movie channels.

According to unconfirmed sources we hear that CBNsat may review this new package allocation. This would be welcome since then CBNsat would be once again be the pay television provider of choice for many.

According to some comments by CBNsat subscribers it seems that they are contemplating a move to Dish Tv. We would like to keep you all informed that this is a very risky move since Satnet is the only authorized dealer of Dish Tv in Sri Lanka and any purchase outside it may be deemed as illegal. There have been instances where Dish Tv has disconnected certain connections on suspicion that it may be pirating their content. Even if the equipment used is original Dish Tv equipment including a Dish Tv SIM card but used in a region where it is not authorized to operate or not operating through the registered dealer then the connection may be again deemed illegal. So those of you who are contemplating the move please take into account these risks before making the investment.

Coming back to CBNsat it seems that the third transponder will be acquired during the month of February which should bring in more channels. It will be great to have Star World on board soon then CBNsat subcribers will be able to enjoy American Idol Season 6 which is commencing today at 8pm on ETV and Star World simultaneously.

We believe that as in the case of mobile phones Dialog will strive to make CBNsat the most vibrant pay television provider in the region and also the most technologically advanced and as they made mobile phones accessible to the rural masses we hope that CBNsat will also be taken on those footsteps.

There are some subscribers who are saying that they are unable to view Zee Cinema and we would request them to call CBNsat on 4606060 and inform them since Zee Cinema is allocated to the basic package it should be viewable by all.

Please keep us updated on the latest on CBNsat as the days progress.

Unsuitable Package Pricing

2007-01-12T15:14:00.000+05:30

The new package pricing structure of CBNsat packages or more than the package pricing it is the allocation of channels in the packages, has caused some displeasure from would be subscribers of CBNsat.

Many people were drawn to CBNsat due to the fact that it was affordable and the package charges were reasonable but what has happened is that for example sports enthusiasts will have to pay Rs 1,600/= (approx with VAT) for the Value 1400 package in comparision to the Rs 1,000/= (approx with VAT) that would have been paid earlier in order to watch Star Sports and ESPN which are more popular than Zee Sports. We believe having Pogo in the Value 1,400 package is absurd since it cannot be considered a channel in the calibre of HBO or HBO Signature.

If Pogo is part of the Value 1400 package then we wonder what package channels such as Star World, Star Movies & Ten Sports will be included into.

We hope that CBNsat management will take steps and make sure that CBNsat does not go out of the reach of the average Sri Lankan. Comet Cable was unable to make an impact in pay television due several reasons such as coverage but more than that due to high prices it was patronized only by the wealthy. Instead CBNsat stepped in and gave connections affordable to the average Sri Lankan who wanted good entertainment and quality sports.

CBNsat should focus continue to focus on the average Sri Lankan in terms of sales since it is only then that they will be able to increase their subscriber base. We know and understand that the company has undergone severe hardship and has to recover the lost revenue but do not do it at the expense of driving the average Sri Lankan away from your quality product which will prove detrimental to the company in the long run.

If CBNsat is to become a successful regional player in the DTH arena then these prices will not help it to achieve its goal because it is much higher that those offered by Tata Sky and Dish Tv.

Still Reserved

2007-01-11T09:06:00.000+05:30

Three slots in the CBNsat lineup are still showing reserved. We hear that these are for Rupavahini, Channel Eye and ITN. However it has been sometime since they were classed as reserved and if these state channels are playing Hard-to-Get then CBNsat might as well forget about these channels and allocate them for some of their contracted channels such as Disney, Toon Disney, etc.

Rather than going behind these state enterprises it is better for CBNsat to improve their customer base and then later on some representatives of these state channels will be knocking on the doors of CBNsat asking them to add these channels to the platform.

CBNsat should also keep in mind that they have some tamil speaking subscribers who have purchased connections from them in order to watch the two tamil channels that were available, Raj and Raj Digital. Since these two have been dropped it is better if CBNsat can replace those two with either Sun Tv or some other tamil channel otherwise they will be in danger of loosing their tamil speaking subscribers.

It will be very good if Rupavahini, Channel Eye and ITN are made available on the CBNsat platform for the benefit of the outstation CBNsat subscribers but as we said earlier if they are not willing to come aboard then CBNsat should allocate them to others without wasting transponder space.

Please update us on the latest regarding CBNsat as the days progress and also whether the TNL Radio Network is now activated on CBNsat.

Part EPG Activated on HBO, Cinemax

2007-01-09T08:45:00.000+05:30

From last night it looks like CBNsat has activated part of the EPG (Electronic Program Guide) on HBO and Cinemax. When we say part of the EPG what we mean is that this only shows the current program and the next program. The actual full EPG will contain a list of programs on the channel from 4 days to One week in advance.

We hope that CBNsat will deploy a fully functional EPG on all channels soon since most of these channels decide on their lineup of programs in advance of one month to one week before a month begins.

CBNsat New Package Structure

2007-01-08T10:58:00.000+05:30

According to information that has been received by us CBNsat have now commenced commercial operations and therefore all customers will be billed commencing this month.

It is confirmed that the Zoom, Goal and Raj channels will not be returning however these may be replaced by Rupavahini, Channel Eye and ITN. We have also received detailed information about the new package structure of CBNsat which is applicable for all new customers. Existing Customers will be billed according to their original package.

Super 500 - Monthly Rental Rs 500/=

CNN
Cartoon Network
National Geographic Channel
History Channel
AXN
MTV (Music Television)
Discovery
Animal Planet
Zone Reality
Zee Cafe
Zee Studio
Zee Cinema
Zee TV
Zee Music
Zee Sports

Great 900 - Monthly Rental Rs 900/=

All the Channels in the Super 500 Package plus
A1 (Adventure One)
Animax
VH1
SET/SETmax
Discovery Travel & Living
BBC
Star Sports
Cinemax
Zee Trendz

Value 1400 - Monthly Rental Rs 1400/=

All the Channels in the Super 500 Package & Great 900 Package plus
Pogo
ESPN
HBO Signature
HBO

** Local television and radio channels will be given free with all the above packages

Initial Cost - Rs 17,900/= All Inclusive

It is not confirmed whether CBNsat will be rebranded however it should be noted that CBNsat has commenced sales of their connections and interested individuals can call their hot line on (011) 4606060 or visit CBNsat Web Site for a download of the Application form.

Please keep us updated on the latest regarding CBNSat as the days progress and a big thank you for CBNsat Subscribers Unite for providing us with the above information.

CBNSat now almost fully operational

2007-01-05T13:06:00.000+05:30

Thats right people. Now CBNsat is at least 95% operational and continuing to move upward. Looks like the free viewing of HBO, HBO Signature and Cinemax are now over since CBNsat have broken their channels into packages and we hear that Zee Cinema is also in the premium package since most of the non premium customers who keep in touch with us do not seem to be receiving Zee Cinema. Please confirm this.

News is also coming in that Zoom, Raj TV and maybe Raj Digital have been dropped from the lineup and Rupavahini, Channel Eye and ITN will come aboard CBNsat very soon for the subscribers who require these channels due to coverage problems of the local channels. It is confirmed that Goal TV 1 and 2 have been dropped but Fashion TV may come back or not and this has not been decided as yet. However we wish all the local channels come aboard CBNsat since no one is going to be bothered to keep the booster (only applies for anyone using boosters) and the decoder switched on at the same time and waste precious electricity. Usually the booster is off when the decoder is on and to check what is being broadcast over the local channels mean to get up from the seat and walk towards the television and turn on the booster to check what the local channels are showing, what a hassle. So if the local channels want to keep viewership among CBNsat customers you have GET ABOARD CBNSAT this includes all the local English Language TV Stations too.

We are also getting reports that the subscribers will be billed from this month onwards. This means that all operations have started and all that has to happen is for CBNsat to relaunch officially and start selling connections. In addition the ICC Cricket World Cup is around the corner and it seems that SET MAX will also be available on CBNsat soon and probably that is why the channel called RESERVED is there or the CBNSAT PROMO channel.

Further Disney and Toon Disney Channels will come aboard once CBNsat secures the third transponder together with a host of other channels and hopefully Star World, Star Movies and Ten Sports are among those channels.

Please keep us updated on the latest regarding CBNsat as the days progress.

On Media Ministry Announcement

2007-01-04T10:12:00.000+05:30

A reply to another blogs concern on whether the Media Ministry announcement recently is a threat to CBNsat

Refer Link "On Media Ministry Announcement"

Discovery Network, Zee Network, ABC Radio Network back on Air

2007-01-02T08:55:00.000+05:30

We have received confirmation that Discovery Network Channels (Discovery Channel, Animal Planet & Discovery Travel & Living) and the Zee Channels (Zee Cafe, Zee TV, Zee Trendz, Zee Studio, Zee Sports, Zee Music, Zee Cinema) are now activated and functional on CBNsat.

There seems to be some confusion regarding the Disney Channels since they have been dropped from the lineup of unactivated named channels and has been replaced by Raj Tv which is named but not activated. We are still unable to confirm what the status of these channels are?

In addition it seems that Sha, Hiru, Sun, Gold, Sooriyan from the ABC Radio Network are all available on CBNsat from yesterday. In addition it seems that some Radio Channels (TNL, Lite, Asura) are appearing in the television mode of the decoder too but they are not activated still.

Looks like most of the sound problems of sound coming on one channel have now been sorted out but some of the picture freezing problems are still there which we believe will be sorted out soon.

We keep us updated on the latest regarding CBNsat as the days progress and we once again wish all of you "A Very Happy & Prosperous New Year 2007".

2006 : A Year in Review - CBNsat

2006-12-29T11:01:00.000+05:30

This year turned out to be a pretty interesting and eventful year for CBNsat Subscribers. Lets take some time and have a look at what happened in 2006.

CBNsat which was launched in 2005 turned out to be the market leader in pay television in Sri Lanka and successfully sold over 25,000 connections under one year.

The two major channels that were launched this year were ESPN and Star Sports.

A crisis hit the pay television industry when CBNsat was controversially closed down by vested interests and unfounded allegations were thrown at them.

The formation of CBNsat Subscribers Unite to fight for the rights of CBNsat Customers who were unnecessarily victimized due to the closure.

CBNsat who took the authorities to court and took part in a six month long court battle. This finally ended when Dialog Telekom took control of CBNsat and recommenced transmissions in December.

The Founder Chairman of CBNSat Mr. Muhunthan Canagey who can be regarded as the Father of DTH in Sri Lanka had to unfortunately resign from his post as Chairman since he sold the company to Dialog Telekom and the resignation was more quickly than he would have desired due to threats from vested interests who were behind the CBNsat closure.

The next year seems to be a really good year for CBNsat which is expected to officially launch under Dialog Telekom early next year possibly in January. More new channels are expected to become available on CBNSat as the year progresses.

Well that's all folks for this year since we are taking the weekend and January 1st 2007 off, so we will be back with you from January 2nd 2007. Please keep sending us your valuable emails and also updating this blog with your comments on the latest happenings regarding CBNsat during the next few days while we are away and also throughout the New Year 2007. For a full review on all the events in the Sri Lankan television and radio media front please read the TV & Radio Sri Lanka Blog post called "2006 : A Year in Review".

We like to take this opportunity to wish all of our fellow Bloggers, CBNsat Subscribers Unite, the Staff and Management of CBNsat specially Mr. Muhunthan Canagey - Founder Chairman, Current Chairman CBNsat Mr. Yusof Annuar Yaacob, Chairman Dialog Telekom Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya and also Mrs. Dilani Nandasiri Manageress Legal who updated us on developments, as and when she is permitted to release information to us A Happy, Peaceful and Prosperous New Year 2007

More Channels back on air

2006-12-28T09:09:00.000+05:30

First of all it is nice to be back and we like to thank all of you who kept this blog going by your informative comments during the past few days. We hope that you had a wonderful Christmas watching CBNsat.

Looks like CBNsat has brought back more channels back on air during the past few days and some by yesterday. Accordingly Swarnavahini came back on air some time back and CNN, Animax, Pogo and Cartoon Network are also back.

It also seems that the problem of sound coming on only one speaker (for stereo televisions) which was previously on History Channel is now on NGC and also on CNN so to get sound on both speakers of a TV you have to select the left sound channel for both speakers using the television remote control or the decoder remote control. It also seems that some of the channels are permanently on multilingual sound and it also has to be selected using the appropriate sound channel. Hopefully the CBNsat technical guys will sort this problem by allowing people to select the appropriate language using the designated function for language in the remote control and not by using the left or right sound channels. It seems that some of the channels have Tamil language broadcasts too for English programs and we believe that CBN should provide this as it will prove to be popular among the Tamils in this country.

We are still unable to confirm whether Goal TV 1, Goal TV 2, Fashion TV, Raj TV and Raj Plus have been dropped from CBNsat. We also hear that CBNSat has activated four slots for radio stations but it seems that nothing can be heard from those frequencies.

There seem to be some picture clarity problems too with some channels pixelating more than the others.

We hope that CBNsat will activate the Discovery Channels soon too and complete their original line up of channels and then move to activate their new channels and also sort out all their transmission problems before the end of this year.

Our Wishes for the season

2006-12-20T12:47:00.000+05:30

We would like to take this opportunity to Wish the subscribers of CBNsat, the management of CBNSat, CBNSat Subscribers Unite and all our fellow readers a Very Merry Christmas and we hope that you will be able to enjoy this festive season to the fullest.

We are taking a break of one week (we should be back towards the latter part of next week) in view of the festive season so please update this blog with the latest developments regarding CBNsat. We are also updating this blog to the latest version of "Blogger", so due to this upgrade their may be some difficulties in commenting, so please bear with us if there are some problems while we are away. To minimize the problems we are compelled to activate the feature to allow Anonymous Comments so that the blog will operate smoothly and we would like to request you not to misuse this feature. We are trying our best to make sure that the switch over will be smooth and with minimum interruptions.

In addition there still seems to be some transmission problems with CBNsat and we hope that all of these are sorted out very soon and it will be great if some of the children's channels such as Pogo and Cartoon Network as well as educational channels such Discovery Channel can be added before the Christmas weekend so that there will be some quality entertainment for the family. It also seems that even though most of the new Zee Channels have been named in the transmission the actual transmission is carrying the MTV & VH1 channels on the named Zee frequencies.

Once again we would like to request all you to keep updating us on the latest regarding CBNsat as the days progress.

Commercial Launch likely in January 07

2006-12-15T11:42:00.000+05:30

We are reliably told that it is likely that the commercial relaunch of CBNsat may place in take in Jan 07 but this commercial launch will only take place once all the channels and all the transmission problems are sorted out. However we are not sure whether the company will retain the name CBNsat since Dialog Telekom may change the brand name.

It seems that some of the channels that CBNSat had previously are still not up linked because the new management has to refresh the contracts that were signed with those service providers.

At present we believe that the following new channels are available on CBNsat.

Zee Cafe - English
Zee Studio - English
Zee Sports
Zee TV - Hindi
Zee Cinema - Hindi
Zee Trendz - Fashion Channel
Zee Music - Hindi

In addition MTV, VH1 and SET are on CBNsat however we believe that CBNSat should get SET Max as they will be showing the ICC Cricket World Cup 07 and it also doubles as a Hindi Movie channel so it should be a better option that SET.

It seems that two channels are named as "DT" and "D" and some suggest that it may be Disney Toon Channel and Disney Channel but we are not sure of this and it could be just carrying the name since this is a test transmission.

We also hope that all the local television channels and radio stations come aboard CBNsat since they will be able to access viewers and listeners who are beyond the reach of their transmitters. It also seems that CBNSat customers will be able to enjoy their services free until the commercial launch and the free is said to include HBO too.

Please keep us updated on the latest regarding CBNsat as the days progress.

New Channels on CBNsat

2006-12-15T08:42:00.000+05:30

CBNSat has introduced some new channels on their lineup according to information that is being received by us. They include the Zee Package which consists of channels such as Zee Cinema, Zee Music, etc.

In addition the MTV, VH1 and SET channels have also returned with the activation of their second transponder.

We are getting unconfirmed reports that Goal TV 1 and Goal TV 2 are to be dropped by CBNSat and frankly no one will miss these two channels since anyone hardly watches them.

We would like our fellow bloggers to tell us exactly what are the Zee Channels that are available and do they also include Zee Cafe, Zee Sports and Zee Studio. We also hope that CBNsat will activate the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, Travel and Living and CNN soon. Not to forget Cartoon Network and Pogo which was enjoyed by children and adults alike.

It is better if they can activate the channels that they had prior to the shutdown on a priority basis because these channels were the ones that were being enjoyed by CBNsat customers. We are not so sure on the reason behind the delay in activating the channels. There seems to be a problem in the sound being received on History Channel since only the left sound signal seems to be working according to one of our bloggers.

We are sure that CBNsat engineers are working round the clock to sort out these issues and we hope that they get all the channels and their problems sorted out before Christmas for their customers to have a CBN filled Christmas.

Please keep us updated on the latest regarding CBNSat as the days progress.

Interruption due to maintenance

2006-12-12T08:22:00.000+05:30

We have received information that CBNsat will be interrupting their test transmission for system maintenance today (12th Dec 06) from 10AM to 6PM.

We are not sure what is the type of maintenance that they are carrying out. They be trying to sort out some of the transmission problems that they are having at the moment or they may activating the second transponder. They may also be planning to up link some of the other channels that they had prior to the shutdown.

If any of you have further information regarding this maintenance we welcome you to update this blog with the information.

Transmission Problems

2006-12-11T10:10:00.000+05:30

Looks like CBNsat is facing some transmission problems with AXN being down for the most part during the weekend. It seems that they have not got that fixed still.

We are also receiving reports that the Barclays EPL matches shown over ESPN during the weekend were carrying Hindi commentary instead of English. To comment on this, we feel that CBN may not have selected the correct language feed since there are multiple language feeds for some of the Indian Channels. This may be due to the fact of an oversight on their part. We are reliably informed that the Star Sport Barclays EPL matches commentary were in English. From day one the Indian version of ESPN and Star Sports were being shown on CBNsat.

On the South Africa - India series it seems that since ESS got the rights for an Indian tour after a long time (usually Ten Sports shows these) so they decided to give a total Hindi broadcast over Star Sports. It was a decision by ESS that resulted in Star Sports giving the match in Hindi instead of carrying out a multiple language broadcast over ESPN. This is not something that happens usually unless the entire sporting event is Indian.

If one studies the operations of all these International channels that have Indian broadcasts like Discovery, NGC, Nick, etc they have multiple language broadcasts in Hindi, Telungu, Tamil for originally English programs and it is very rarely that they show a dubbed program only in the dubbed language. Even ESPN and Star Sports have multiple language broadcasts for very popular live events but some programs like wrestling are shown only in Hindi since Star World shows it in English we believe. Multiple language feeds are done all over the world.

We believe that CBN will link up all the other local channels which were with them prior to the shutdown once they activate their second transponder.

We hope that CBN gets their language feeds sorted out and will provide their customers with better quality feeds of the current channels where ever possible and it should also be cost effective and should not drive the subscription rates too high. Selecting higher quality feeds we believe will depend on the explanation we made on our previous post.

We also hear that ESS has got the rights for all ICC global events from 2007 to 2015 beginning after the World Cup of 2007 and under that they have the rights to broadcast two World Cups 2011 and 2015 and a minimum of three champions trophy matches and the Twenty Twenty World Cup in 2007 and 2009. Unfortunately this does not include the next World Cup in 2007 so CBNsat will have to get Sony Max in order for it's customers to watch the World Cup.

Please keep us updated on the latest regarding CBNsat.

The Channel and Feed Question plus Online Poll

2006-12-07T11:28:00.000+05:30

There seems to be a very hearty discussion going on with our fellow bloggers regarding the channels on CBNsat and their respective feeds. We would also like to shed some light on this subject. At the moment the HBO, HBO Signature and Cinemax feeds are Far East Asia feeds whereas the other channels are South Asia feeds (a.k.a Indian Feeds).

When you take a sports channel for example when rights are issued for sporting events there are so many regulations that the broadcaster is bound by according to the coverage of the broadcaster and the region that they serve. On CBNsat we are receiving the Indian feed of Star Sports and ESPN, we believe that we may not get the other feed since if Ten Sports for example has exclusive rights for a cricket tournament in this part of the world and if Ten Sports does not have access to the East Asia market and Star shows the same matches in that East Asia then there will be a legal problem if Star allows CBNsat to have access to their East Asia feed since Ten Sports has exclusive rights for South Asia. Now channels like National Geographic, Discovery have multiple feeds but we get their Indian feed and not their East Asia feed and this may be attributed to the fact that the operator has designated Sri Lanka under their Indian feed and getting the East Asia feed will be costly or maybe their East Asia feed cannot be accessed here due to coverage issues.

It is the same for entertainment channels too. AXN East Asia which we get has the exclusive rights to show "Lost" but AXN India cannot show "Lost" because Star Movies India has the rights for "Lost" in India. Comet Cable gives the East Asia feed of Star Movies and Star Movies East Asia does not show "Lost" because AXN East Asia has the rights.

We can always request CBNSat to show the East Asia feed over the Indian feed however it also depends on the operator of the channel as well as the cost involved in getting the feed since it may result in a big difference in the package pricing.

AXN and HBO have designated Sri Lanka under their East Asia feed since their India feeds are targeting India viewers specifically whose taste is very different to those of Sri Lankans. The problem is that the operators of most of these channels have not identified Sri Lanka as a niche market for their channels due to the very low penetration of cable television here. We need to improve cable television penetration in Sri Lanka and then when we become a viable source of income for the operators of these channels then they may even include a Sinhala and Tamil language sound feed for their channels. Even strict regulation of the cable television industry will have a negative impact on the channel operators.

On the topic of channel selection. We believe that CBNsat will allow their customers to choose the channels by making their own customized package. For this to happen CBNsat will have to first increase the amount of channels that they offer on their platform and doing this now may not be a viable option. CBNsat will add more Hindi and Tamil channels if they want to capture a market outside Sri Lanka such as Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, etc. We do not think that CBNsat will be able to enter the Indian market since it is being dominated by Dish, TataSky and also because they show East Asia feeds of some channels and the Indian DTH operators will object to it. If CBNsat is to enter the Indian market then they will have to block the East Asia feeds of those channels for Indian customers.

On other technological fronts we hope that CBNsat will introduce pay per view for sporting events and movies, etc. They should also include gaming and eventually broadband internet. We believe that all these will be done but it will take some time in the light of the recent events that have taken place.

We hope that this information was helpful for our fellow bloggers.

There is an on line poll being carried out by CBNsat Subscribers Unite on the channels that you would like to be made available on CBNsat. If a channel that you like is not on the list please send an email to cbnsat@gmail.com and they will consider adding that channel also to the list.

http://82px.pollhost.com/

Local channels making a comeback on CBNsat

2006-12-07T11:19:00.000+05:30

Looks like TNL and Derana have made it back onto the CBNsat platform once again. CBNsat was back just in time for the Sri Lanka - New Zealand cricket series which is not being shown on any of the local television channels.

We hope that all the local channels will be available on CBNsat soon and we urge them to sign up with CBNsat. It is great that the engineering team of CBNsat is working full time to get all the channels back on track. According to reports it seems that AXN is not working on CBNsat. Lets hope that the engineers get this channel back on air soon since this is a very popular channel.

Please update us on the latest developments on CBNsat as the days progress and also update us on the status of their second transponder.

Channel additions to CBNsat

2006-12-06T08:56:00.000+05:30

On 05/12/2006

According to reports being received it seems that CBNSat has added the following channels to it's lineup

HBO
HBO Signature
Cinemax

Please update this blog when more channels are added to the lineup

Great Weekend

2006-12-05T12:42:00.000+05:30

Looks like it was a great weekend for the CBNsat Subscribers since they got their cable tv operator back on air. According to reports received the channels that are presently available are BBC World, AXN, NGC, History Channel, A1, Nick, MTV, Zone Reality (formerly known as Reality TV), ESPN, Star Sports.

Accordingly the other frequencies are running promotions of the rest of the CBNsat channels and they should be on air in due course. At the moment test transmissions are being carried out and once the test transmissions are over then all the other channels will also be back.

We are however saddened by the fact that Mr. Muhunthan Canagey has resigned from CBNsat. However we believe that a company of the calibre of Dialog Telekom under the leadership of Dr. Hans Wijesuriya will continue taking this company into greater heights.

We would also like to wish the new chairman Mr. Yusof Annuar Yaacob all the best as he takes over the leadership of this company.

According to a compilation of the channels that have been requested by CBNsat customers over a period of time we have come up with a list of channels that the should be introduced soon.

Star World
Star Movies
Ten Sports
God TV
Zee Cafe
Zee Sports
Disney Channel

We would like to thank CBNsat Subscriber Unite who took an active participation in highlighting the grievances of CBNsat Subscribers. Excellent work CBNsat you never gave up and that is greatly appreciated. We also like to thank our fellow bloggers for keeping us updated on the events that were taking place over the months that CBNsat was down. Even if we did not update the blog you guys and gals made sure that the information on the blog was kept up to date. Specially during the last weekend we were not able to update this blog on the latest on the resumption of transmission but you guys and gals kept the information flowing and we hope that you will keep it that way.

We will now focus on making sure that CBNsat continues to provide excellent service to it's subscribers and fulfill our theme "This blog is intended for CBNSat customers to tell the world about how efficient their service is, or any problems in their service or just plain congratulate them for a job well done."

This blog is for the subscribers to air their view and thoughts so CBNsat Management is always welcome to check what their subscribers require from their service as well as what they think about the service. We are also getting reports that the downtime due to rain that the subscribers are experiencing is much less that earlier.

Please keep us updated as channels are being added to CBNsat and share your views on the service provided by CBNsat.

From CBNsat Subscribers Unite

2006-12-05T11:03:00.000+05:30

It was a victory for the CBNSat Subscribers on Saturday 2nd December after seeing the green light back on their decoders PERMANENTLY after 6 long months. It was a long time than we initially thought and finally justice has prevailed. But the process took so long than we anticipated and finally the founder CEO of CBNSat had to sell it to Dialog Telekom for the good and benefit of everyone.

We happen to see the pictures on our TV's on Saturday evening but the bitterness of the whole fiasco which unfolded during the last 6 months is a black spot in the History of Sri Lanka. Finally all the allegations made against CBNSat have just vanished into thin air.

I take this moment to thank on behalf of CBNSat Subscribers Unite for everyone who stood behind bringing in justice to us, the CBNSat Subscribers. Mr. Muhunthan who fought right throughout to bring back CBNSat online and running the customer care right throughout to keep the subscribers informed.

And a very special BIG Thank you to the blog admin. The CBNSat blog was the most happening place for the subscribers all around the island for the past 6 months. It was the sole place for gathering information on the situation and exchanging the ideas. The first of its kind in Sri Lanka. And the blog paved way for the subscribers to meet on-line and then get together to form CBNSat Subscribers Unite to act as the sole representative body on the part of subscribers to bring in justice for the victimized subscribers. And my special thanks goes to all the senior bloggers prmo, rob, cbnsatvictim and mohan for helping out tremendously in all the matters which the CBNSat Subscribers Unite came across with. And I thank all the people who signed our online petition, All the news papers who published our articles and press releases on their news papers specially Sunday Times and Daily Mirror, Rivira and Nation news papers. Also I need to thank the staff of CBNSat who stayed with the company during this painful time.

And all the others who helped CBNSat subscribers to bring back their service.

THANK YOU FOR YOU ALL !

Lisura
Convener - CBNSat SUBSCRIBERS UNITE
cbnsat@gmail.com

Media Release

2006-12-05T10:46:00.000+05:30

Asset Media Completes CBN SAT Transaction
Services Go Live in Test Mode

Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2nd December 2006, Dialog Telekom Limited announced today that its subsidiary Asset Media (Private) Limited, had completed the acquisition of Communiq Broadband Networks (Private) Limited and CBN Sat (Private) Limited (hereinafter collectively referred to as “CBN SAT").

Following the completion of the acquisition of CBN SAT by Asset Media, the Direct to Home Satellite TV operations of CBN SAT will commence under the management of Asset Media, the Television Broadcasting subsidiary of Dialog Telekom Ltd.

Asset Media sources confirmed that transmission of CBN SAT services would commence in test transmission mode on or around the 2nd of December and would be uplifted to full commercial operations within a few days.

The acquisition was also followed by the appointment of a new Board of Directors for the acquired companies comprising of Mr. Yusof Annuar Yaacob (Chairman), Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, Mr. Nihal Seneviratne Epa, Mr. Moksevi Prelis, and Mr. Wan Zaidan Wan Mahyudin.

Dialog Telekom termed the acquisition of CBN SAT as a key milestone in the group's strategy of achieving a quadruple play (Mobile, Fixed, Broadband, Television Media) product proposition for Sri Lankan consumers. This will result in Dialog Telekom making transformational investments in Digital Broadcast infrastructure targeting digital
terrestrial broadcast, Direct to Home (DTH) and Mobile Television service provisioning" a company source stated.

About Asset Media
Asset Media is a subsidiary of Dialog Telekom Ltd., and is licensed by the Ministry of Media to provide Television Broadcasting services, delivery of Pay Television and Cable Television Services and the operation of a Television broadcasting station.

About CBN SAT
CBN SAT is a Direct to Home Satellite TV service operated by Communiq Broadband Network (Pvt) Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of Asset Media. CBN SAT supports a broad array of International content including CNN, BBC, HBO, Cinemax, AXN, ESPN, Discovery Channel, MTV (Music Television) and Cartoon Network, in addition to a wide portfolio of Sri Lankan television channels. CBN SAT services are based on cutting edge DVB-S digital broadcast infrastructure and reach out to over 20,000 Sri Lankan homes as of December 2006.

About Dialog Telekom Limited
Dialog Telekom Limited is the largest mobile operator in Sri Lanka with over 3Mn subscribers representing over 60% market share in the cellular sector. Dialog Telekom is also the largest listed company on the Colombo Stock Exchange in terms of Market Capitalisation with a market capitalisation (as of 30 September 2006) of LKR 161.02 Bn (USD 1.57Bn).

Dialog Telekom Limited is a subsidiary of Telekom Malaysia International and a member of the Telekom Malaysia Group. In addition to its core mobile telephony business, the company provides international services, supporting an International Gateway infrastructure providing retail and wholesale international voice and data services under the brand name of Dialog Global. The company also provides Internet services through
Dialog Internet - a fully-fledged Internet Service Provider (ISP). Dialog Telekom also operates Dialog SAT, a mobile satellite service.

CBNsat Court Verdict

2006-12-05T10:23:00.000+05:30

To CBNsat Customers from Muhunthan Canagey

2006-12-05T09:02:00.000+05:30

** We received the following email on December 3rd 2006. We are sorry for being unable to post this earlier.

02^nd December 2006

Dear Valued Customers,

I take this opportunity to thank all our dear valued customers for bringing us to the resolution of the CBNSat saga which we have reached today. Thank you all for being so extremely patient with us and for understanding our predicament.

At our last Supreme Court hearing the Court ordered CBNSat to recommence transmission immediately.

“Having considered submissions of Counsel and the information disclosed
in Court, we grant leave to proceed in the alleged infringement of the
Petitioner’s fundamental rights guaranteed by Article 12(1) and 14(1)
of the Constitution. We also grant to the Petitioner interim relief prayed
for in prayer (d) of the prayer to the Petition”.

“The Petitioner is permitted to recommence the service that was
provided prior to the seizure and there will be no obstruction to the
Petitioner and /or Communiq Broadband being companies owned
by the same share-holders from carrying on the transmission that was
done prior to the seizure.”

These are some of the quotes extracted from the Court order. The comprehensive Supreme Court order will be available on our website, which is www.cbnsat.com and I welcome you all to visit the site.

I have now accomplished my goal that all customers will continued to be served, all employees will continue to be employed and that all commitments to all the financial institutions and creditors of CBNSat will be honoured. Today will be my last day in office as I have decided to move on with my new venture due to the existing shares of the company being sold to Asset Media (Pvt) Ltd., a subsidiary of Dialog Telekom Limited whom I am confident will take CBNSat to the next level.

My achievement would not have been possible if I had not been backed by such wonderful people as you all and I am extremely grateful to the support given by our stakeholders, including the CBNSat Subscriber Unite group, our valued customers, our employees, the financial institutions and other parties whose patience and understanding was vital.

I hope you will all continue to enjoy CBNSat and its services.

Thanking you,

Yours sincerely,

Muhunthan Canagey

Chief Executive Officer

CBNsat tests transmission

2006-12-01T09:54:00.000+05:30

CBNsat seems to have carried out a Test Transmission at approximately 9:30pm yesterday according to our fellow bloggers.

It seems that the recommencement of transmission is now very close and it should be on air on Saturday (02nd Dec) evening or Monday/Tuesday (4th/5th Dec) according to reports received. A saturday launch would be ideal due to the fact that this is a long weekend.

There is a comment on the TV Radio Sri Lanka blog that has been put there by the "Lanka Media Outlook" blog in order for them to increase their hits at our expense. For more on this please click on "Lanka Media Outlook trying to..........". (--> Lanka Media Outlook says that the comment that we have referred to here was not made by them. We like to thank them for the confirmation and for clearing matters.)

We request our readers to keep us updated on the latest regarding CBNsat as the days progress.

Mr. Muhunthan - Good Bye and Good Luck

2006-12-01T08:41:00.000+05:30

It has come to our notice than Mr. Muhunthan Canagey CEO of CBNsat will be vacating his post on Saturday 02nd December 2006.

He is the pioneer of DTH broadcasting in Sri Lanka and will be remembered as the man who brought cable TV in Sri Lanka to the villages and the city without any bias whatsoever.

He had such a great vision for this country with the plan to introduce distant learning, etc which would have definitely been very beneficial to the rural areas and also help in bridging the digital divide.

Though all the false allegations that were thrown against you, still you fought tooth and nail against these extremist forces and made sure that CBNsat will be back on air and gave Sri Lanka her most advanced satellite broadcasting station. Sri Lanka is definitely proud to have a son of the soil of your calibre and even though there may be some who do not acknowledge how valuable you were to this nation. We will never forget the service that you did for this country.

Hats off to you Mr. Muhunthan we SALUTE you and wish you and your family all the very best in your future endeavors.

Attention Sri Lankans : CBNSat being threatened by Defense Officials

2006-11-29T16:34:00.000+05:30

Please copy the email given below and forward it to everyone you know.

In the aftermath of approval by the Supreme Court allowing CBNsat to recommence transmissions and also the Share Purchase agreement which will make CBNsat a fully owned subsidiary of Dialog Telekom. The people who were originally behind the shutdown of CBNsat are frantically pulling all strings to keep the broadcaster closed. They have gone to the extent of issuing threats to CBNsat and also trying to force the police to start another investigation into CBNsat.

The only thing that is preventing them is the supreme court ruling which prevents anyone from interfering with CBNsat operations.

These people behind all these threats are top officials in the Defense circles who are making use of their positions to gain a business advantage and have no regard for the National Security of this country.

These people should be immediately removed from their posts since they are a bigger threat to the national security of this nation.

By this we understand that all the allegations brought against CBNsat were false and it was these corrupt individuals who made this all up to keep a business venture shut.

An article related to this has appeared in the Daily Mirror dated 29th Nov 2006.

Please forward this email to all your friends and relatives so that they may be aware of these corrupt individuals and know that the real truth behind the CBNsat shutdown.

We appeal to Your Excellency President Mahinda Rajapakse to sack these corrupt individuals immediately.

CBNsat Customers

Top Defense Official trying to mess with CBNsat

2006-11-29T12:21:00.000+05:30

*** We received the following as comment and it tallies with the Daily Mirror Report that is posted below this one.

savecbnsat Says :
It is known to us the interested party who holds a high position in the defense circles (all of you know who) have got another high ranking government defense official relating to the president to order DIG Colombo to search CBNSat premises again.

He had told the police to search and find anything to delay CBNSat restarting operations. The top police official have told that because of the court order they can't harass CBNSat any further. These corrupt goons have blasted the top police official to do whatever possible to stop CBNSat recommencing transmission.

I think this country will be a hell with these idiots in top chairs. They are using "National Security" as a cover up to run down their competitors. Look what they have done to CBNSat. They got the CID to close up a successful legal business approved by the government to close for 6 months without any valid reason.

Now even after the Supreme Court judgement these crooks are not willing to give up on their dirty tricks.

If these dogs think that we do not know anything they should know that we are closely watching the situation. We know what you are up to.

We will keep the masses knowledged of what you dogs are doing. If you do not stop your dirty tricks towards CBNSat you will rot to death !!!!!!!

----------------------------------------------------------------

It looks like these people who are behind this scenario are still continuing their dirty tricks. These people who hold senior posts in the Defense circles are supposed to be serving the nation, rather they seem to be making use of those positions for their advantage.

How can we trust the security of this nation on highly corrupted people like this, PLEASE SACK THEM FROM THESE POSTS IMMEDIATELY.

CBNSat Recommences transmission - Daily Mirror 29th Nov 06

2006-11-29T09:18:00.000+05:30

CBNSat the satellite television channel which was sealed for six months ago will reopen transmission from today despite the alleged threats by a politician.

Executing last Monday's Supreme Court decision the management of CBNSat, SonicNet Technologies (Pvt) Ltd. had started transmission.

When contacted by the Daily Mirror CEO Muhunthan Canagasooryam said that transmission would be started from midnight or probably today.

Refusing to comment on the political interference against the reopening of the TV station which had nearly 20,000 subscribers, Mr. Canagasooryam said "We cannot pay heed to these alleged threats. We will continue with the reopening."

The Daily Mirror learns that a politician had threatened against the reopening of the TV channel following the court order. The CEO said that the delay for the reopening was due to repairs to equipment which were no used for last six months.

CBNSat transmission was sealed by the CID on March 22 this year alleging an uplinking of a Tamil medium channel as part of its operation.

By Susitha R. Fernando

Death Threats

2006-11-28T16:27:00.000+05:30

We are receiving unconfirmed reports that the CBNSat CEO Mr. Muhunthan Canagey is receiving death threats after the ruling by the Supreme Court.

This appeared as a comment on this blog but we are unable to confirm this.

The below is from a blogger called SaveCBNSAT

Death threats to CBNSat CEO

After yesterdays court hearing to restore the CBNSat transmission up and running, CEO of CBNSat has began to receive death threats from certain parties who opposed to CBNSat operations right from the start.

They have called and threatened not to start the transmission immediately. If CBNSat start they said they will bomb the uplinking station.

It is sad that even after the supreme court verdict yesterday these corrupt people are not willing to accept the judgement delivered by Hon. CJ.

Lets all hope and pray CBNSat will not be turned down again by this unethical people who ruin our country by getting close to top politicians. Now it is very clear that their intention is purely for personal gains and not for the good and benefit of the majority community.

Enough is Enough !!!!!!!!

Lets rally round CBNSat to help them to start the operations ASAP.

Call them and encourage them to not to fall pray into these corrupt people.

CBNSat : WE ARE WITH YOU !!!!!

That was followed by a comment from Lisura

Dear fellow subscribers,

This story may be true because even yesterday CBNSat have told me that soon after getting the court verdict on paper they are able to restart operations.

Actually the seals were removed few weeks back on a court order for servicing. So they should be up by at least with one channel or at least color bars.

There might be something happening underhand preventing them uplinking.

This can't go on like this ! What is the place for justice in our motherland ??? How can these corrupt people stop a verdict given by CJ.

If this story is true CBNSat should immediately inform this to CJ and act accordingly.

This country should be freed from these dog gone officials.

This must be the reason why there is a delay in the uplinking since CBNsat had previously informed that the up linking can be done within 30 minutes of the court order. They seem to have also threatened to bomb the uplinking station.

The above information may be all wrong but there is a possibility taking into account the calibre of the people who are behind all this shutdown.

IF this is true it is now time to rally around and support CBNsat more than ever. There is no need to mention the name's of the prime suspects since they are very popular among CBNsat customers and are at the receiving end of the curses of more than 20,000 customers.

We are also getting reports that CBNsat will be commencing transmissions anytime during the day today. It all depends on whether the above piece of information is true or not.

Please keep us updated on any new developments and also update this blog when the decoder light turns green.

WE ARE WITH YOU CBNSAT.

Update from CBNsat

2006-11-28T08:57:00.000+05:30

*** The below email was received by us yesterday and we regret our inability to post this earlier

In the Supreme Court today, we requested for interim relief and got the permission for CBNSat to immediately re-commence transmission.

Our Engineering team is working on this and we expect CBNSat will be back on air tomorrow morning.

We are proud that we did not give up and that we have succeeded in resuming the transmission independently through the CBNSat name.

However, due to the six month closure where the company did its best to honour as much of its commitments as possible, the company is now financially crippled and will need fresh investment.

In this regard, an agreement was signed with Asset Media (Pvt) Ltd., a subsidiary of Dialog Telekom Limited whereby CBNSat will be purchased by them in the near future and become a subsidiary of Dialog Telekom Limited. Permission was also obtained for this transfer in the Supreme Court.

CBNSat will however remain intact and function as a separate business unit.

CBNSat is extremely grateful to the support given by its stakeholders, including the CBNSat Subscriber Unite group, the valued customers, its employees, the financial institutions and other parties whose patience and understanding was vital.”

Dilani Nandasiri
Manageress Legal

Communiq Broadband Network (Pvt.) Ltd.
83 George R. De Silva Mawatha, Colombo 13, Sri Lanka .
Tel: +94 11 460 6000 Fax: +94 11 460 6099

Dialog TV

2006-11-28T08:55:00.000+05:30

Sri Lanka's Dialog Telekom picks up cable operator CBN Sat

November 27 2006 (LBO) – Dialog Telekom, the island's biggest mobile phone operator, Monday announced plans to acquire satellite pay television operator Communiqu Broadband Networks (Pvt) Ltd and CBN Sat (Pvt) Ltd for 532.8 million rupees.
A unit of Telekom Malaysia, Dialog said the acquisition is subject to the telco completing a share sale and purchase sale agreement with both parties. The acquisition of 100 percent of both firms' share capital, will be carried out through Dialog's subsidiary, Asset Media (Pvt) Ltd. Dialog bought Asset Media for 325 million rupees in October, and indicated plans to use its radio and television frequency license, to rollout a host of infotainment services ranging from television to mobile phone services. A greenfield operation, Asset Media also comes with its own broadcasting studio, a free-to-air and pay television license. "The acquisition of CBN/CBNSAT is expected to provide Asset Media with cutting edge DTH (direct to home) Satellite Pay TV infrastructure and strong portfolio of Content partnerships, in addition to a healthy base of Pay TV subscribers," Dialog said in a statement. Dialog said it plans to pay for the acquisition through internally generated cash. The digital convergence, also known as quadruple play or four-play, allows Dialog to offer cable television, broadband, fixed-line and mobile telephone services. Earlier this year, Dialog moved into the broadband market by picking up a network operator MTT. Re-branded as 'Dialog Broadband', MTT also had a license to offer CDMA (code division multiple access) services or cheaper fixed line telephone services by using mobile technologies. Dialog's CDMA operation, is due to start next January. In August, Dialog became the first in South Asia to commercially launch third generation mobile services or 3G, giving customers the facility for high speed web browsing, video streaming, online games, music and movie downloads. Sri Lanka, which became the first South Asian nation to start mobile services, when Celltel Lanka began operations in 1989, now boasts over 4.28 million subscribers, according to Central Bank figures.
Dialog Telekom, dominates the industry with over 3 million subscribers, followed by Mobitel Lanka, Celltel Lanka Ltd, Hutchinson. The telecom regulator is in the process of selecting a fifth operator.

SonicNet granted permission to commence operation - Daily Mirror 28th Nov 06

2006-11-28T08:53:00.000+05:30

The Supreme Court yesterday (27) granted interim relief to SonicNet Technologies (Pvt) Ltd permitting it to recommence the operation of its Communiq Broadband Network (CBN Sat) transmission with immediate effect.

The Bench comprising Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva and Justices N. G. Amaratunga and Saleem Marsoof also granted the petitioner company SonicNet Technologies leave to proceed with the fundamental rights application for the alleged infringements of its fundamental right to equality and equal protection of the law.

The matter came up on a motion filed pursuant to the proceedings of November 6. Having considered the submission of the petitioner, court made order permitting the petitioner to negotiate a sale of the equipment and facilities to another service provider.

This order specifically stated that the negotiations could be entered into by the petitioner on the basis that the order sealing the equipment would be vacated, when negotiations are finalised.

President's Counsel Romesh de Silva appearing for the petitioner submitted that the negotiations are now being finalised and the petitioner could sell the facility to the subsidiary of Dialog Telekom Ltd. Asset Media (Pvt) Ltd wholly subsidiary of the Dialog Telekom Ltd would purchase the shares of Communiq Broadband Network.

Counsel Romesh de Silva further submitted that Asset Media has already got licence under Section 28 of the Rupavahini Corporation Act (Media licence) permitting it to broadcast and that the Dialog Telekom has a licence under and in terms of Section 17 of the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission.

He submitted that pursuant to the sale agreement with the petitioner, Dialog and /or its subsidiary would be permitted to carry on the broadcast that were carried on by the petitioner prior to the seal.

He also submitted that the petitioner company has imported equipment which have not been cleared and is kept in the port premises and that since the TRC has not granted the clearance pending these proceedings, appropriate steps be taken by the TRC to ensure that the petitioner could clear his equipments.

Court accordingly granted the petitioner interim relief pleaded in the petition (d). Petitioner was permitted to recommence the service that were provided prior to the seizure and there will be no obstruction to the petitioner and / or Communiq Broadband being all companies owned by the same share-holders from carrying on the transmission that was done prior to the seizure. Since there is a possibility of resolving the matter, no date for objection for hearing is granted. The matter was listed to be mentioned on January 16.

The petitioner 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, The TRC and the Attorney General as respondents.

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 1st to 5th respondents and the Attorney General. President's Counsel D. S. Wijesinghe appeared for the intervenient petitioner the Minister of Mass Media and Information. President's Counsel Palitha Kumarasinghe appeared for the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission. Sanjeewa Jayawardane with Rajeev Amarasuriya appeared for the Dialog Telekom.

By S.S.Selvanayagam

Excellent News

2006-11-27T16:39:00.000+05:30

After waiting 6 months and not knowing what will happen to the money that they invested in their cable tv connections, it now seems to be finally over. CBNsat was given permission to commence broadcasts immediately by the Supreme Court according to the information received by us.

The time and date of resumption of the broadcast is not known exactly since there are so many conflicting reports on that front. Some say today, some tomorrow, some next week. Well it should be noted that after waiting so long the customers of CBNsat will not mind waiting a little while more.

It looks like all the channels will not be visible as soon as CBNsat recommences transmissions and they will be implemented on a step by step basis since they will have to up link all the channels that were out for a long period of time.

According to comments being received by us on the blog it looks like Dialog GSM have struck a deal with CBNsat but we are unable to confirm this.

We would like to thank the management of CBNsat and whoever that has signed up with CBNsat and also the Honorable Chief Justice for taking into consideration the plight of the customers.

We hope that our readers will keep checking their decoders from time to time and update this blog as soon as CBNsat recommences transmission and also on any new developments.

BREAKING NEWS :

2006-11-27T13:31:00.000+05:30

CBNSAT HAVE WON THE 6-MONTH LONG COURT BATTLE !!!!!!!!

IT IS CONFIRMED NOW THAT THE SUPREME COURT HAVE GIVEN THE ORDER TO CBNSAT TO RE-COMMENCE THEIR OPERATIONS WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT.

SO CBNSAT WILL START THE OPERATIONS AS SOON THEY GET THE RULING ON PAPER.

WE KNOW THAT THIS IS A SOOTHING NEWS FOR ALL THE CBNSAT SUBSCRIBERS WHO WAITED PATIENTLY FOR THIS MOMENT.

WE CONGRATULATE THE CEO AND STAFF OF CBNSAT NOT GIVING UP ON THIS INJUST CLOSURE !

FINALLY THE PATIENCE HAVE PAID BACK THE SUBSCRIBERS !!!!

CBNSat Subscribers Unite

From CBNsat Subscribers Unite

2006-11-27T13:29:00.000+05:30

BREAKING NEWS :

UNCONFIRMED REPORTS ARE COMING IN SAYING THAT SUPREME COURT HAVE ORDERED CBNSAT TO IMMEDIATELY COMMENCE OPERATIONS.

SHALL KEEP YOU UPDATED ON THIS DEVELOPING STORY.

CBNSat Subscribers Unite

Uncertain Future

2006-11-20T09:59:00.000+05:30

Yesterdays report in The Sunday Times Financial Times has become a hope killer for most CBNsat Subscribers, particularly the statement given below.

"The Defence Ministry is yet to clear CBN (Communiq Broadband Networks Ltd), off the air since June 9 this year for a media licensing facility and is unlikely to get one, Director General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) of Sri Lanka, Kanchana Ratwatte, told The Sunday Times FT."

So the only option CBNsat has is to join up with another licensed provider. According to the report a CBNsat Customer Service Representative has told that the only licensed provider at present is Rupavahini. As reported in this blog the newspaper also reports that CBNsat has provided Rupavahini with the proposals and are awaiting their response.

However as new operators enter the market the options will increase but how long will it be before new entrants are also given the license and can a company survive so long. Like we said earlier we are made to understand that slow and steady progress is being made and we would appreciate it if CBNsat takes steps to keep their customers updated on the present status. We understand that everything cannot be disclosed but their will definitely have to be some information that can be disclosed to their customers since they are also stakeholders.

Questions are being raised by some bloggers regarding the credibility of information that is being released on this blog. Please understand that the information that we are bringing to you is what is being received by us. We are striving to maintain a high quality of information released via this blog.

CBNsat should now start looking for alternatives such as entering into a long term business partnership instead of just trying to sign an up linking deal. They should also try to explore possibilities such as selling the company to another party, this however is easier said than done since the person who started this company had a great vision and it is hard to let go of it.

The Defence Ministry have not cleared CBNsat still but we wonder how the TRC chairman can comment saying that "it is unlikely that CBNsat will get the clearance". It may sound like he is stating the obvious when looking at how things are proceeding at the moment but as the chairman of an state institution is it correct for him to pass the judgement before the decision is conveyed. He has to be neutral on the matter but it looks like he is biased.

We hope that CBNsat is able to recommence transmissions before the next court hearing which is on December 5th 2006.

Please keep us updated on the latest regarding CBNsat as the days progress.

Slow and Steady

2006-11-17T09:50:00.000+05:30

We are getting reports that the agreement that CBNsat is pursuing with Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation is making slow progress but is said to be steady.

The pace of the progress may be due to the fact they are dealing with a state institution and the intricate paper work and discussions that are required.

According to unconfirmed reports that we are getting, their staff is still upbeat and are anticipating the relaunch of CBNsat.

We hope that the authorities at the SLRC will genuinely speed up the work and allow CBNsat to operate soon.

Please keep us updated on the latest regarding CBNsat as the days progress.

CBNsat settlement pending - Counsel for CBNsat (Daily News 10th November 06)

2006-11-10T08:28:00.000+05:30

Colombo Additional Magistrate Gihan Pilapitiya yesterday put off the CBN Sat case to January 19 when President's Counsel M. L. M. Ameen appearing for the CBN Sat submitted that the Superior Court suggested a settlement and the settlement was pending.

President's Counsel Hemantha Warnakulasuriya appearing for Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation, Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation and Media Minister submitted that the Criminal Investigation Department had conducted investigations against those television channels.

If the Attorney General was satisfied that the act of those channels was deemed to be a crime under the Rupavahini Act they would file plaints against all the accused. Senior State Counsel Gihan Kulathunga appearing for the prosecution submitted that the CID had conducted the investigations and if the CBNsat could not come to a settlement they were filing the plaint.

The CID initiated the investigations when it found that several television channels were functioning without proper licence.

President's Counsel Hemantha Warnakulasuriya with Kalinga Pasquel and Inoka Gamage appeared for the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation, Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation and Media Minister. Senior State Counsel Gihan Kulathunga appeared for the prosecution while President's Counsel M. L. M. Ameen appeared for CBNsat.

Sandasen Marasinghe

SonicNet allowed to recommence transmission through service provider - Daily mirror 07/11/2006

2006-11-07T08:54:00.000+05:30

Could apply for licence under TRC and Rupavahini Corporation Act

The Supreme Court yesterday (6) granted permission to the SonicNet Technologies (Pvt) Ltd to enter into negotiation with a service provider for the recommencement of its transmission that was at a standstill for the last five months.

The Bench comprising Chief Justices Sarath N. Silva, Justices N.K.Udalagama and Andrew M. Somawansa granted this permission for the resumption of the transmission through any service provider that had been recommended by the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (TRC).

The SonicNet Technologies (Pvt) Ltd had filed this application contending that Commercial Crime Unit Police personnel on June 6 unlawfully sealed and seized its equipment and prevented it from using its equipment and operating its services whereas magistrate did not order or authorise to do so in his search warrant.

When the matter came up before the Supreme Court, the President's Counsel for the petitioner SonicNet Technologies submitted that the petitioner is now agreeable to transferring the equipment and business of transmission that has come to a standstill as a result of the order made sealing the equipment.

President's Counsel Palitha Kumarasinghe for the 7th respondent TRC submitted that the TRC has considered the applications submitted by the service providers and has made recommendations to the President in respect of some of them.

In these circumstances, the petitioner SonicNet Technologies may negotiate with any one or more of the service providers that had been recommended by the TRC.

The identity of such establishment should be made known to the President's Counsel for the SonicNet Technologies to arrange a transfer of the equipment concerned of such service providers on condition that the service providers will be granted a licence in terms of Section 17 of the Sri Lanka Telecommunication Act and that broadcast under the Rupavahini Corporation Act. Such negotiations would be entered into by the petitioner SonicNet Technologies on the basis that the order of sealing and seizure of the equipment would be vacated once negotiations are finalized.

Such order would be made on the basis that the service providers will take over the contracts already entered into by the petitioner SonicNet Technologies and its associate companies with all rights and liabilities to all proceedings in the District Court, High Court, Magistrate's Court and the Court of Appeal will be terminated without costs.

The petitioner SonicNet Technologies may enter into negotiation with a service provider with suitable arrangements which may be for a period. This will not prejudice to the petitioner SonicNet Technologies from pursuing its application for a licence under the TRC and Rupavahini Corporation Act.

The matter was listed for a final order on December 5 before a Bench of which Chief Justice is a member.

Petitioner in his petition 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 and the IGP and the Attorney General as respondents.

Petitioner stated that Communiq Broadband Network (CBN) is an associate company situated at No. 83, George R. De Silva Mawatha, Colombo 13.

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.

Petitioner in the petition has asked 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.

President's Counsel Romesh de Silva with Sugath Caldera and Riad Ameen instructed by G.G.Arulpragasam appeared for the petitioner.

President's Counsel Palitha Kumarasinghe with Indika Idroos appeared for the TRC. Deputy Solicitor General Sathya Hetige with Senior State Counsel Sumathi Dharmawardana appeared for the respondent police officers.

By S.S.Selvanayagam

Update from CBNsat

2006-11-06T15:34:00.000+05:30

We have received the following update from CBNsat regarding the Supreme Court hearing that was held today. We would like to thank CBNsat for taking time to send us this update.

This is an update on the Supreme Court hearing today.

Our initial delay in finalizing a commercial agreement with another operator was because there was uncertainty regarding whether the transmission equipment, which was initially sealed, will be released in order to re-commence the service with another operator.

We have obtained an order from the Supreme Court today to the effect that in the event an agreement is finalized with a licensed operator, the seizure of the transmission equipment will be removed. This will now speed up the negotiations. However, it was stated that the operator will need to have both the TRC licence and the Media licence.

In the meantime, the applications that we have made to the TRC and for the media licence will continue and have not been withdrawn.

We have also submitted a proposal to the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation and are awaiting their response.

The next date for the Supreme Court hearing is 5^th December 2006 at 10 am.

Best regards,

Dilani Nandasiri
Manageress Legal

CBNsat Supreme Court hearing today (Nov 6th)

2006-11-06T09:02:00.000+05:30

With today 5 months have been completed since the shutdown of CBNsat. Today CBNsat will be having a hearing at the Supreme Court. We are not sure what can be expected from this hearing and whether anything good can come out of it. However according to unconfirmed information that we are receiving, CBNsat is still negotiating with an undisclosed party in order to resume transmissions and we also hear that there is considerable progress that is being made.

Whether or not this will be mentioned at courts today is not certain. However it seems that one of the individuals behind the CBNsat closure B.A.C. Abeywardena is now in trouble over an issue at the Tea Board and has been asked to resign from his post as Chairman. However it seems that he is refusing to do so. Abeywardena you should understand that what you do to others will always come back to you since you are being cursed by over 25,000 customers of CBNsat and its 100,000 viewers and also the customer base of LBN. Resign without destroying the Tea Industry in Sri Lanka.

We are not sure on the time of todays hearing so please keep us updated on it. We also request our fellow bloggers to update us on the result of todays hearing as the day progresses.

Supreme Court hearing on Nov 6th

2006-11-03T09:43:00.000+05:30

Well on monday (Nov 6th) CBNsat will be facing Court hearing number - we have honestly lost count of these court hearings. We wonder what the Supreme Court has to discuss and hopefully the Chief Justice will not get sick.

Information is only trickling in on the rumoured agreement between CBNsat and ????? party. According to unconfirmed information that we are getting, there is something going on behind the scenes and is being kept under wraps. Rightfully so, since these people who instigated this are waiting for a chance to pounce.

Please keep us updated on any developments regarding CBNsat as the days progress.

FILEnetworks – TV & Radio Sri Lanka form partnership

2006-11-01T09:46:00.000+05:30

We are very happy to announce that TV Radio Sri Lanka Group of Blogs and the FILEnetworks blog have formed a partnership in order to bring you the latest news and updates on TV-Radio industry and software related issues.

FILEnetworks will be bringing you the latest cracks and hacks that are available in the market place.

TV Radio Sri Lanka Group of Blogs consisting of TV Radio Sri Lanka Blog, CBNsat Blog, LBN Cable TV blog, Comet Cable Blog will be bringing you the latest in TV & Radio industry in Sri Lanka.

We hope to pass the benefits of this partnership down to our fellow bloggers.

Is this fresh hope?

2006-10-30T09:14:00.000+05:30

There has been a comment posted on this blog by CBNsat Subscribers Unite about CBNsat which is copied below.
---------------------------------------------------
Good News Friends !

CBNSat says they are in the final stages of signing a deal with Rupavahini Corporation. They are very much hopeful that they can begin transmission very soon.

Most probably within this week or next week. They will keep the subscribers informed via SMS and public media.
---------------------------------------------------
There is exactly a week left for the CBNsat Supreme Court hearing which will be held next Monday (6th November). It is now indeed a long period of time since the sealing of Sri Lanka's leading pay tv provider and it will be a great relief for the over 20,000 customers if this is resolved soon.

This is hardly a National Security Issue

2006-10-17T12:00:00.000+05:30

Looks like authorities have not issued MoD clearance to CBNsat still. However it seems that even if they get MoD clearance the license, it will still take ages for the TRC license to be issued. For example MoD clearance was issued to LBN and after several delays the TRC have got the license to LBN ready but now it seems that they have to get a media license in order to operate. Please refer LBN Forum for further news on this new twist.

It is now very clear that this is not an issue of National Security. If there was a threat to National Security from CBNsat and if the alleged links with the terrorists are true then why have no charges been brought against them? Why were the seals removed if there were suspected links? The authorities could have used the Emergency Regulations to apprehend the management of CBNsat if they had the slightest hint of terrorist links? But none of this has happened, which means that CBNsat is being framed to fullfil the desires of the political henchmen. These henchmen wanted to see the downfall of CBNsat and LBN and that is the main reason why they started this drama. Unfortunately there are those who have started to believe in this.

One of the people behind this scenario is now busy sacking honest individuals in the Tea Board to consolidate his position at the Tea Board and the other is trying to sell off more of his cable tv connections but has no success.

Now CBNsat is attempting to link with another operator who has the license in order to resume operations, but has anyone else been issued the license. What relief are the authorities going to give to the subscribers? Will they refund the money using their monthly salary, they should since they are in power because of the public.

Are CBNsat subscribers not legitimate citizens? Are the political henchmen more favoured than the people of this country? Where is consumer rights? Has the Supreme Court become the lapdog of the politicians?

Due to this scenario in the cable tv industry, there is an increase in the sales of illegal pay tv connections from India. The GOSL is going to lose a lot from the tax revenue from cable tv but frankly they asked for it. The people of this country have had a taste of real entertainment and now they have been deprived of it. It is only natural that they will go to any lengths to get this quality entertainment back.

Mr. President you are Executive President of this country and these henchmen within your government are tarnishing your reputation, please resolve this crisis immediately. We know that there are other issues of National importance but remember that the government should resolve all issues of the citizens of this country.

Please keep us updated on the latest regarding CBNsat as the days progress. We have about just over two weeks for the next CBNsat Supreme Court hearing.

From CBNsat Subscribers Unite

2006-10-09T13:37:00.000+05:30

Dear Fellow Bloggers,

There seems to be a trend over the past few days with fake bloggers posting imposing as usual bloggers. We urge all the people who use this service to blog responsibly.

This is our sole source of information as all the other media is not reporting this grave injustice done to us as subscribers.

We believe the motive of these fake bloggers is that to divert us from the idea of getting our infotainment service provider back.

I need to state clearly i do not work at CBNSat or i'm not getting paid to blog here. And i'm not the blog admin. Blog is managed by a independant individual and the CBNSat Subscriber Unite have no link whatsoever with CBNSat other than being the subscribers to their service.

It's 4 months since the shutting down of CBNSat is and the time taken to resolve this issue has gone very far than we ever imagined.

EVEN AT THIS MOMENT WE URGE THE RELEVANT AUTHORITIES TO SPEED UP THE PROCESS AND ISSUE THE NECCESARY LICENCES TO CBNSAT AND IF YOU HAVE A DOUBT ABOUT THE NATIONAL SECURITY PLEASE MONITOR THEM 24*7 AS INSTRUCTED BY THE CHIEF JUSTICE.

"CBNSat Subscriber Unite" - Lisura

Clarification of issues - From CBNsat

2006-10-09T12:12:00.000+05:30

Dear Admin,

We have noticed that certain questions have arisen over the operations of CBNSat and we would like to take this opportunity to clarify these issues.

Initially Asia Broadband Network was to be floated and used to enter into the agreements for and on behalf of CBN in the international arena, prior to the incorporation of CBN so as to move things quickly and avoid delays, however this was not necessary in the end as CBN entered into agreements in their own name.

The CID have done the necessary investigations and filed their reports in the Magistrate’s Court. All our financial records were made available to them and copies were given in order for them to conduct their investigations. The CID has given clearance on the CBNSat operations and so far not one single allegation that has been made against us has been substantiated in or out of Court.

We have received the generous support from the financial institutions that are involved with us for which we are extremely grateful, as they have stuck by us in our time of need. It is because of this that we have been able to meet our commitments to our stakeholders, and especially our employees to the best of our ability.

We have always endeavoured to maintain professionalism in everything we do and will continue to do so.

Best regards,

Dilani Nandasiri
Manageress Legal

Beware of Imposters

2006-10-09T11:44:00.000+05:30

We have noticed some comments using id's similar to the ones that we are using. Please note that they are not posted by us and are done with the intention of breaking the focus of this blog.

User Stats

On Blogger Since	July 2005
Profile Views	2322

For confirmation regarding the authencity of the post, please check the user statistics that can be checked by clicking on the username. When comparing, the no. of profile views might be different but remember that we are blogging here from July 2005.

We would like to request all of you not to be mislead by these crooked individuals posting using duplicated user names.

We also saw a post saying that the Blog Admin, CBNsat Subscriber Unite and a few other of our regular bloggers are on the payroll of CBNsat. We know that the true believers in this fight for justice are well aware that this allegation is not true. We deny these allegations and request those concerned not make baseless and unnecessary allegations such as these.

Please keep us updated on the latest regarding CBNsat as the days progress. It is now five months since CBNsat was shutdown.

A request to all bloggers

2006-10-04T17:17:00.000+05:30

You may have noticed earlier a post saying that "Comment Moderation" has been activated on this blog. Well we did decided to activate moderation but after a discussion with "CBNsat Subscribers Unite" we decided against it and removed the post.

The reason was not because of anti CBNsat comments, rather it was the posting of personal information of the CEO. We would like to request all of you not to post the personal information of anyone on this blog as it is not relevant to the discussion.

Please note that if personal information continues to appear we may be forced to close this blog. Whatever your point of view, it maybe supporting CBNsat or against CBNsat please do not post anyones personal information.

Please do not abuse this blog.

Admin

Hmmm......

2006-10-04T09:54:00.000+05:30

Hmmm... Looks like some of you are convinced that CBNsat is having connections with the LTTE including some claims made that the government has the proof. Our problem is why is the proof hidden from the public, they might as well spill the beans. Unless the bean can is empty of course.

CBNsat has made a big investment in Sri Lanka and according to the news that we get a large amount of this money came from HSBC. CBNsat has sister companies in the form of EPSI computers a long standing business in Sri Lanka. They also have connections with a company in Hong Kong and so coming up with this money is not a big thing.

Now let's not get hasty since the people such as Hulla and Abey wanted this to happen so that they can be the Kings. We are playing into their hands when we form opinions like this. Like several bloggers have mentioned before "CBNSat is innocent until proven guilty".

Unfortunately we have politicians who serve themselves and their friends more than the country. If CBNsat is guilty of any offense then the authorities have had ample time to prove it and since they have been unable to prove it, we can safely say that they are innocent. At the court cases there has been no proper allegation against CBNsat and the allegations keep changing. If CBNsat was guilty they will not keep fighting this case the way that they have done at the moment. They would have closed shop and fled the country.

There is no doubt that CBNsat is innocent and maybe Hulla and Abey are fabricating the so called required evidence. CBNsat has given connections to Tsunami affected schools, sponsored the Sri Lankan contigent to the Davis Cup and also the Chilles advertising awards. They have done things that the other cable operators have been unable to do and this is how Sri Lanka rewards them.

CBNsat will be able to start negotiations with prospective partners only when the licenses are issued and as per the information we are receiving no one has been granted this license. If you have any information about any granted licenses, please update us.

It would be great to see CBNsat resuming transmissions with the present management since they worked hard to introduce this technology to this country and they should be rewarded for their endeavour. If that is not possible CBNsat should explore possibilties to sell or tie up with another company and resume operations. However this should be done soon and Dialog seems to the best option at the moment since they are also looking at DTH.

On the 6th it will be five months since CBNsat was shutdown and we are still a month away from the next Supreme Court hearing. Please keep us updated on any news regarding CBNSat as the days progress.

Is Dialog eying CBNsat?

2006-10-02T14:18:00.000+05:30

Dialog Telekom has purchased Asset Media the operators of Neth FM. Please refer the below link.

TV Radio Sri Lanka Forum : Dialog Picks up Asset Media

What is very interesting to note is that Asset Media has the license for a FTA and a Pay Tv License. Also the following statement by the Dialog CEO is also interesting, "The strategic diversification into the television broadcasting allows Dialog to move into digital terrestrial broadcasting, direct to home or DTH and mobile television services, its CEO Hans Wijayasuriya said."

Can anyone confirm whether Dialog applied for the recent pay tv license. If Dialog enters the DTH industry there is no doubt that it will be a great service. The fact that CBNsat is a complete setup together with customers, equipment and content providers will no doubt prove to be an attractive investment for Dialog.

Although there is no way of getting an exact picture of the plans Dialog has for its DTH service there is no doubt that they are eying DTH. Exactly when is the question now? If they are planning to takeover CBNsat, it is best done soon.

There is no doubt that the CBNsat Customers will welcome this move, if it takes place and will continue to support the new management as they did the present management. Let's look at the bright side, it is way better than someone else taking over and it is definitely better than a takeover by SATnet or TV Lanka. These guys will get totally disintegrated from this competition.

Please keep us updated on the latest developments regarding CBNsat.

From CBNsat Subscribers Unite.....

2006-09-29T11:43:00.000+05:30

Dear Fellow CBNSat Subscribers,

First of all sorry for not informing you of the actions we have taken during the past few weeks. This was actually to avoid our enemies getting the info they want regarding our actions through this open blog. They are the people who created this fiasco and they are also closely monitoring this blog and we didn’t want to get our action plan into their hands.

In the recent days there seems to a trend in the blog of accusing the Blog admin and the CBNSat Subscriber Unite of not doing anything for the subscribers. First of all we should thank the blog admin as he is the one who paved the path for us to get together and exchange our ideas otherwise we still do not have any media of communicating. Secondly from the positive responses we got this forum lead to form the “CBNSat Subscriber Unite” Which is a huge achievement. This Blog has become the sole place for information regarding the CBNSat issue as the other media is not giving coverage to this. And we do like to mention the people who just criticize the blog admin and the Subscribers Unite it is very much easy to just type out something in the blog but you have to come out of the blog to see the reality. During the last few weeks we have spent a lot of our time, money and energy over this issue. We even risk our lives as all the people behind this fiasco now know about us. In so many occasions they have stopped us from voicing out and meet the government officials including the president.

After forming CBNSat SU we have been actively involved in getting our infotainment service provider back to our lives. We have written to all the government authorities, called and even met to voice out our concerns as discriminated subscribers. Certain mass media institutions also gave coverage to our activities such as the Sunday Times, Nation and Rivira news papers. We also made our representations in the Supreme Court in the last 2 hearings.

We have thoroughly studied this whole scenario of shutting down of CBNSat and we can come to a conclusion of there is no reason proven with facts whatsoever to justify this act. The accusations made to CBNSat regarding links with the LTTE Terrorists, Technology issue, FTV issue and finally the National Security concern are now proven as baseless allegations made deliberately to delay the justice done to CBNSat and its Subscribers. And during the past months we saw these allegations came in a cycling process one after another and this cycle is being repeated over and over. Not a single of these allegations were proved in the courts of law.

Since they know that they have a risk of running out of these false allegations they came up with this “Security Clearance” from Ministry of Defense excuse. The people who created this fiasco is currently in the high ranking positions in the Ministry of Defence and they clearly know that this could be dragged on forever till CBNSat runs bankrupt and close down their operations.

If our CID is intelligent they should realize on the very first day of shutting down of CBNSat that the LTTE TV channel is not broadcasted through CBNSat platform. If it had happened so it should have stopped with the closure of CBNSat. But up to date it is operating without any disturbance. The CID has checked this later and even now they are confident that the LTTE TV Channel is not broadcasted through CBNSat platform. What did the government do to shut down the LTTE channel rather than closing CBNSat ? NOTHING ! Have they at least spoke to the PanAmSat ( owned by Intel SAT) or US government to not give satellite communication facilities to LTTE ?
NO !!!!!! And it was noted in this blog that the telephone used by LTTE TV is a Sri Lanka Telecom phone bearing number 021-2285879. So it is clear that the government do not have intentions to shut down the LTTE channel but to make it an excuse to run down a successful business to create space for their favorites.

With regards to FTV (Fashion TV) issue it’s funny that the government trying to stop a satellite channel which is free-to-air (FTA). Anyone with a normal satellite receiving system could receive FTV free of charge without linking up with CBNSat. And the government has no control to stop it as it is broadcasted from Hong Kong and India.

And we wonder what this national security issue is???? CBNSat is a public network and what the subscribers do is only receive the signal. There is nothing could be transmitted with the supplied equipment. The Dish, LNB and the receiver all are for receiving purposes only. On the other end the government has issued 3G licenses to the mobile operators and WiMAX licenses will also be issued in very near future. With these anyone could transmit high quality video to any location with a small hand held 3G devices such as a mobile phone. We are not telling the government not to issue licenses to these emerging technologies but to let them operate and monitor.

The majority of CBNSat subscribers are Singhalese. Are we all traitors to just watch the LTTE TV channel being broadcasted on CBNSat and to keep our mouths shut without complaining to authorities? And we wonder how much “National Security” we have by having people who are severely corrupt at the top to the Defense Ministry specially at the MCNS !

So it is evident to us that the government has clear intentions of closing down CBNSat permanently. This was openly stated to us when contacted government officials during the past few weeks. What they have stated is that to forget the money we paid to CBNSat. And even though the president has said he is a leader who is willing to listen to peoples problems, up to date he hasn’t even bothered to meet us or the CBNSat Management to discuss the issue.

We have consulted lawyers in this regard to proceed with legal action on behalf of the subscribers to get some relief. But what they said is that even the CBNSat lawyers have gone far in this case and since all this is controlled by an unseen force (now we all know who) it will not make any sense. All of us have already loosed our hard earned money on the equipment and entering into a never ending legal battle makes no sense.

This is the state as it is of today from the point of view of subscribers. We regret that we could not post any more details of our actions on an open blog like this but we would like to note that we have not given up. We will be closely monitoring the current situation and necessary action will be taken at the correct time. The people who have put us into this tragedy will have to face the consequences of the nature as we believe in our religions. If anyone think “OK, We have played them fool and won” they are utterly mistaken.

CBNSat Subscribers Unite

CBNsat updates on current status

2006-09-26T08:55:00.000+05:30

On a inquiry that we sent to CBNsat regarding the current status of their negotiations with any licensed operator, their Legal Manager Dilani Nandasiri said that once the licenses are issued they will enter into negotiations with the relevant operator.

Therefore it looks like CBNsat has not started negotiations with any party and they will do so once licenses are issued for someone.

Please keep us updated on the status of licenses being issued to other parties as well as any news about CBNsat as the days progress.

CBNsat clarifies their position

2006-09-20T14:13:00.000+05:30

This is a reply to the email that was sent by us regarding the outcome of Monday (Sept 18th) Court hearing we wish to state that we received CBNsat's reply yesterday but we were unable to publish it yesterday. We like to like to thank Legal Manager of CBNsat, Dilani Nandasiri for taking time to reply. We raised issues such as the granting of refunds and their position on signing up with another operator. Given below is their reply.

"We do understand the frustration of the customers as we are experiencing it too. We also want to be fair by all concerned and it was not the customers' nor our intention either of terminating the services. However, we are not in a position to issue refunds at the moment whether we like it or not. Therefore we appeal to our customers to continue giving us the understanding, patience and support they have been very generous with so far.

As mentioned previously, we are considering certain options, one of them being to enter into an agreement with an operator that has already been issued with the necessary license for satellite broadcasting. Hence the reason our lawyers requested the court for permission to re-commence transmission through another operator pending the processing of our application. This was done in the interests of our customers and stake holders, in order to safeguard them from more delays.

This request was granted by the Supreme Court and we were given leave to commence transmission once we finalize any necessary commercial arrangements, without having to seek further permission, so although the next date for the Supreme Court hearing is the 6th of Nov 2006, it is not necessary to wait till then.

We do not have a fixed time as yet as to when we are shall be able to start as we only obtained the court's permission yesterday (Sept 18th). However, please rest assured that the things are moving ahead and it should not be long before we are once again able to enjoy the infotainment service much missed by all.

Dilani Nandasiri"

According to this email from CBNsat they seem confident of resuming services once they sign an agreement with another operator and as mentioned previously the only two who have received licenses now is SLRC and SLT. We are also made to understand from some of our readers that out of the 26 applications, most of the licenses are for the regional cable tv operators and a few others are for satellite based services - it is not clear how many and how many will be given the license. So probably CBNsat will be able to tie up with the companies who got the license to provide a satellite based service.

Please keep us updated on any new developments regarding CBNsat as the days progress.

SLRC please return the favor

2006-09-19T11:00:00.000+05:30

So people you might have read the post below on CBNsat's Supreme Court hearing. It looks like they are now hoping to link up with SLRC and resume transmissions since SLRC has the license and SLT has also got a license.

Well we just hope SLRC did not forget the help granted by CBNSat to carry out transmissions to Jaffna and also that one of the people who instigated this problem (Mr. BACA aka Mr. B.A.C Abeywardena chairman Tv Lanka) questioned the legality of the SLRC satellite broadcasting station too on the Kangaroo Courts over Tv Lanka. CBNsat gave Rupavahini free access so please return the favor by helping CBNsat to resume transmissions. CBNsat customers will love Rupavahini more for this.

Now the upcoming Rupavahini World Channel will spell the death of Tv Lanka (please read TV Radio Sri Lanka forum for more news on this).

The Chief Justice's statement that the affidavit submitted by the Media Ministry Secretary will have to be heard as truth by the Court is nothing but nonsense. The Media Ministry lies big time and even though the CBNsat lawyers have said that they have not withdrawn an application the Media Ministry insists that they with drew the application. The CJ cannnot blindly accept the statement of the Media Ministry as the truth since they are not at all honest in this CBNsat matter. The Supreme Court seems gullible to everything the GOSL says.

The CJ in his first sitting was concerned about the CBNsat Subscribers but now he does not even consider the customers. What a change in attitude - is this him speaking or something he received making him talk like this.

There are 26 companies that have applied for licenses and CBNsat can link up with any one of them. A solution to this problem will have to be arrived at before Nov 6th since the wait is just too long and customers have been deprived of a basic human right and also employees jobs are at risk.

We also urge CBNsat to get the ball rolling and approach the locally licensed operators and resume services to their customers who are getting frustrated now. Failing which it is time to think of moving overseas.

Summary of Supreme Court hearing ... Sept 18th

2006-09-19T09:29:00.000+05:30

Today's newspapers did not carry any information about the Supreme Court hearing of CBNsat. Did anyone see anything on the newspapers, at least we didn't. Due to this reason we are giving you a brief summary of yesterdays hearing.

The lawyer representing the media minister said that the MoD approval is still pending. Both CBNsat and SonicNet have applied for licenses but an affidavit of the media ministers secretary said that one application was withdrawn.

The lawyers representing CBNsat have fully denied this and said that they haven't withdrawn any applications. The Chief Justice has said that since the Media Ministry Secretary is a public servant who served for so many years his affidavit should be heard as truth by the courts.

CBNsat lawyers have also said that agreements with channel partners are confidential and cannot be disclosed to others without their consent. Chief Justice asked CBNsat to get the consent and forward it to the government authorities.

Defense concerns were not a major issue at the hearing. CBNsat lawyers have asked CJ's advice on operating until some time with the assistance of SLRC. Chief Justice said that he cannot give the order but they have to enter into a commercial agreement on the payment and staffinf terms, etc. It was also revealed that SLT have go the MoD clearance for the new license.

The Chief Justice who would have given another two months to but CBNsat lawyers managed to et the hearing date to November 6th (the fifth month annivesary of CBNsat shutdown).

We like to thank CBNsat Subscriber Unite for providing us with the above information.

Postponed once again..........

2006-09-18T13:44:00.000+05:30

Well at least we are not surprised. According to unofficial reports the CBNsat supreme court case has been postponed to November 6th 2006.

According to these reports the reason for postponement is that the MoD wants to carry out further evaluation. It makes us wonder how we can trust the reports given by the MoD regarding the present war when they cannot be honest with a simple thing such as CBNsat. We wonder whether all the reports that we get from the front lines are all real. Are their conclusions on all the abductions and killings real? Are the casualty figures real?

We are beginning to have doubts on all the reports released by the government since they seem to be a very corrupted set of people, who are bent on protecting themselves and their henchmen. So maybe all what we hear about the war is nothing but a bunch of lies.

Coming back to CBNsat we are getting unconfirmed reports that they have requested court to uplink via SLRC. SLRC's involvement in this case is questionable and whether they will agree to allow CBNsat to uplink is also not certain. However it should be mentioned here that for money anyone can do anything so since they will be paying SLRC money for uplinking who knows they might just do it.

We would like to remind that the information received so far about the date of postponement and the request by CBNsat regarding SLRC is still unconfirmed. Please update us with the confirmed reports as the day progresses.

CBNsat Supreme Court hearing today (18th Sept)

2006-09-18T09:06:00.000+05:30

The cycle continues today with CBNsat having a supreme court hearing. The MoD decision should be made known today if there are no more excuses being made. Sadly this is Sri Lanka and an excuse seems to be the best game plan.

The ever extending closing date for TRC applications for license for providing Cable television services has finally been closed from last friday and we have no reports of any more postponement.

We sincerely hope that CBNsat would get the green light from the MoD and necessary steps will be taken to restore the CBNsat transmissions taking into consideration the plight of its customers and employees.

Please keep us updated on the time of todays hearing as well as the result.

Monday (18th Sept) hearing......

2006-09-15T12:54:00.000+05:30

Well we are heading into another weekend and the saga still continues. On monday (18th Sept) CBNsat is due to have their Supreme Court hearing.

We are receiving emails from bloggers in foreign countries regarding this cable tv shutdown which shows us that this news is now spreading internationally. This together with the present situation in sri lanka will cause a definite reduction in foreign investment.

We urge the authorities to take necessary measures to stabilize the cable tv industry and issue immediate resolutions to these problems. It is now three months and if these companies shutdown it will add to the ever increasing unemployment figures.

Please keep us updated on any news regarding CBNsat as the days progress.

CBNSat Replies........

2006-09-13T09:31:00.000+05:30

Given below is the reply from CBNsat for the email that we sent them. We would like to thank CBNSat for taking time to reply.

Dear Admin

With reference to your email, we are indeed aware of the blog and the continuing support, encouragement and suggestions given by the bloggers which have not gone unnoticed, and for which we are extremely grateful. We would also like to thank the CBNSat Subscriber Unite group for their initiative and efforts.

Prior to the advertisement being published in the newspapers, the Management of CBNSat had personally written to H.E. the President asking for his intervention. We are currently awaiting a response from H.E. the President. We have not yet received any official communication with regard to the MoD clearance, however, we shall keep the blog informed once we receive confirmation.

In order to explain our position fully, CBNSat did have a press conference initially and we also sent a Newsletter to our subscribers. CBNSat has filed cases at every level of court hierarchy in order to restore the services to our customers as soon as possible. In addition to that, the Management is exploring certain alternatives but at the same time we have to carefully assess these alternatives fully, taking into account all relevant factors. As you yourself have mentioned, “there are vested interests behind the closure as well as they being the reason that the legal proceedings are being dragged further”. Therefore it may not be prudent to disclose the plan of action the Company is going to take in the event of further delays in obtaining the MoD clearance.

Please rest assured that the Company will not at any instance be filing for bankruptcy and we will do our very best to protect the jobs of 300+ employees as far as possible. We appreciate the patience and understanding shown by the bloggers and our customers of our current predicament and we give you our assurance that we will continue to fight for our rights as well as the rights of our customers to have CBNSat back on air again.

Please feel free to publish the full email on the blog.

Best Regards

Dilani Nandasiri
Manager Legal

Communiq Broadband Network (Pvt) Ltd.,

83, George R. De Silva Mawatha, Colombo 13, Sri Lanka

Tel : +94 11 460 6000 Fax : +94 11 460 6099

Today is CBNsat Appeal day

2006-09-12T14:02:00.000+05:30

Almost forgot since we were trying to get some confirmation about this LakHanda Report. So before we get into all that remember this from the LBO report of 29th August 2006.

"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." Please click here for the full report.

So since the Defense Ministry did not submit their findings by September 4th, we would like to know whether CBNsat is making any appeal today or are they awaiting the response from the MoD. Can anyone confirm this please.

CBNsat have communicated with us we are expecting a detailed email from them and we will post their response on this blog as soon as we get it.

In addition we are unable to confirm the contents of the so called Lakhanda Radio report regarding CBNsat. It looks like a false alarm from our point of view. Remember that some people may be posting misleading comments for us to lose target of our goal.

LBN has got the MoD approval and please refer LBN Blog for the response that we received from LBN.

Please keep us updated on any new developments regarding CBNsat as the days progress. Please do not post misleading comments on this blog.

CBNsat Appeals court hearing today (Sept 11th)

2006-09-11T11:41:00.000+05:30

We have received information that CBNsat will be having an Appeals Court hearing today and this was from an email received from CBNsat as a response to our email. We feel that this is the same hearing that LBN is also having today. CBNsat has indicated that they will email us officially in reply to the issues raised by us.

Please keep us updated on the latest news regarding CBNsat's hearing today.

Do not worry we are still here

2006-09-11T10:03:00.000+05:30

We are getting worried comments from people that this blog is silent. Well one reason is that in order to post anything new, we need new information.

We have not received any new information so that is the reason that we did not post anything.

We are also waiting for a reply from CBNsat for the questions that we asked them? Anyway this blog is still active. Do not worry about that.

On Sept 18th (next monday) is the CBNsat Supreme Court hearing. Today LBN is having a hearing and we are expecting the MoD report on LBN to be made known today. Please refer to LBN forum for more information about that.

Please keep us updated on the latest news regarding CBNsat.

3 Months since shutdown

2006-09-06T09:10:00.000+05:30

Today is September 6th 2006 and we have completed 3 months since the shutdown of CBNsat. It was on a day like this on June 6th 2006 at approximately 9:20PM CBNsat was unfairly sealed and shut by the authorities acting under the influence of certain individuals.

Ever since that fateful day, the customers of CBNsat have not given up hope and have continued to fight for their rights. This blog which was formed to assist the customers of CBNsat to share information about the CBNsat service had to change its goal and fight for the rights of its customers.

We have managed to reach several milestones during this short time. Probably this is the first time in Sri Lanka that a blog has been used extensively as a tool for people to meet up and share information with a specific goal in mind. We have also been able to facilitate the formation of CBNsat Subscribers Unite which is probably the first time that the general public has formed a group and stood for their rights as consumers. We salute CBNsat Subscribers Unite in their endeavor to restore the rights of CBNsat subscribers.

We were able to get all the blogs belonging to TV Radio Sri Lanka onto www.kottu.org (a listing of all Sri Lankan blogs), but unfortunately the CBNsat and LBN blogs were removed from the site by the Kottu administrators on the reasons that we are publishing copied newspaper articles. However we did explain to the Kottu Admins that it is necessary for us to publish the newspaper articles since it facilitates the sharing of information regarding the reports of CBNsat and LBN. However they did say it was a temporary measure but as of now the CBNsat and LBN forums still continue to be removed from Kottu and only the TV Radio Sri Lanka and Comet Cable forums are on Kottu.

This has been an eventful 3 months and as of yesterday we have sent an email to Mr. Muhunthan Canagey, CEO CBNsat and we are eargerly awaiting his reply for some issues that we had raised. We trust we will get a reply.

We urge H.E President Mahinda Rajapakse to expedite the MoD response and provide relief to the customers of CBNsat. Sir, please meet with representatives of CBNsat as well as representatives of CBNsat Subscribers Unite since you yourself said that solutions to problems should be reached through negotiation. So please grant them appointments.

It is disappointing to note that News 1st & Live @ 8 have not responded in any way to the emails that we sent. We are eagerly awaiting their reply for the questions and requests raised by us.

As a blog we will not give up our fight to restore the services of CBNsat and we hope that neither of you will also, we have come 3 months as one unit and the situation looks bleak at this point in time but remember they will eventually run out of excuses. We have received information that CBNsat has not given up, and is continuing to put pressure on the authorities and it looks like they are very confident of resuming services.

Lets stick together and keep on fighting and see justice served.

CBNsat Subscribers Unite + CBNsat Blog + CBNsat = Victory

Admin
Tv Radio Sri Lanka

CBNsat Management Contact Info wanted

2006-09-05T12:18:00.000+05:30

We need email addresses and contact information of someone in the management of CBNsat preferably the CEO Mr. Muhunthan.

We want to contact them directly regarding this MoD response among several other things and make a line of communication where they can get in touch with us directly. Please do not post these email addresses as comments but please email them to tvradiosrilanka@yahoo.com. We will not divulge their email address on this blog when we post their replies.

Also we got the following communication from LBN MD Mr. Shirantha Herath regarding an email we sent to him questioning the MoD response for LBN. Please refer LBN blog for further information.

"Shirantha Herath (LBN)" wrote:

The MOD clearance will be given direct to TRC and we have not heard if this has been received by the TRC.

Judging by this response it means that the response will probably be a mystery till 11th Sept Court hearing for LBN and we think it is the same situation with CBNsat too and they may not know till the court hearing on Sept 18th.

Please send us the contact information as soon as possible and if CBNsat management visits this blog please send us your contact information. Please keep us updated on the latest regarding CBNsat. By the way did CBNsat carry out any test transmission recently?

MoD clearance postponed to 18th September 2006?

2006-09-05T09:24:00.000+05:30

The MoD clearance which should have been given yesterday has been postponed to 18th September 06 (the date of the Supreme Court hearing) according to information that we are receiving but we would like to state that we have not obtained any confirmation regarding this information. We are also receiving reports that CBNsat has sent an official communication to the President asking him intervene. But there has been no reply to the communication from the Presidents office. We like to request H.E. The President to take steps and intervene in this issue and sorts out things that have been thoroughly messed up.

On MinIT telecast over ETV yesterday there was a report saying that CBNsat and LBN have made official statements seperately saying that they will resume transmission once the MoD clearance is obtained and the license has been processed.

We would also like those who sent emails to News 1st and Live @ 8 to inform us whether you have received any replies from those esteemed organisations.

Please keep us updated on confirmed information regarding the MoD response to CBNsat as the days progress.

MoD Decision due to today (Sep 4th)

2006-09-04T09:42:00.000+05:30

The Ministry of Defense is to give it's decision on CBNsat today. Well at least that is what was said at the last Supreme Court hearing. In another two days it will be three months since CBNsat was shutdown.

We hope that the MoD will give a favourable decision today taking into consideration the plight of the over 20,000 subscribers of CBNsat and over 300 staff members. We also have unconfirmed reports that the MoD will give it's decision on LBN also today which was postponed from its original date of Sep 1st.

We would like our readers to keep us updated on the decision by the MoD as well as any other information on CBNsat.

From CBNsat Subscribers Unite

2006-09-01T11:06:00.000+05:30

Dear Fellow Subscribers,

Please send us your contact numbers to call you and get your point of view of the current situation. We have most of your contact numbers but we need your consent to pass on your contact details to a journalist who wants to interview and do a comprehensive article about the subscriber grievances.

We specially need subscribers out of Colombo.

Please respond ASAP with your home town and contact number !

Together we will fight for our rights !!!

"CBNSat Subscriber Unite" Email address : cbnsat@gmail.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Please respond to the above request from Subscribers Unite and let your grievances be known and get them published in a newspaper. Well today(September 1st) LBN will be getting the response from the MoD regarding their application that was forwarded by the TRC to MoD and CBNsat will be getting the response by September 4th. Please keep us updated on any developments regarding CBNsat as we enter the first weekend of the month of September and just days away from completing three months since the shutdown of CBNsat.

Sarath Amunugama's speech

2006-08-30T09:02:00.000+05:30

On Channel One MTV News 1st there was a report about a speech made by Former Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama.

Did anyone notice the context of the speech. He spoke of the future of television. He said that in the future taxing of tv programmes will not be possible and he also mentioned about DVB-S. He said that in the future local tv stations will be replaced by satellite based broadcasters operating on the DVB-S DTH mode. At least we figure that is what he was trying to explain.

We could not get the whole text of the speech that was shown but he sure mentioned that DTH is the future of broadcasting. Well at least it is nice to know that at least one person in the government understands that DTH is the future.

By the way does he hold any ministerial porfolios still? Given below is a news report that appeared on Lanka Business Online (lbo.lk) website. Anyone who knows about any news regarding CBNsat please post them here as the days progress.

Cable operator CBNSat seeks defence clearance - LBO 29th Aug 2006

2006-08-30T09:00:00.000+05:30

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.

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

2006-08-29T15:30:00.000+05:30

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.

Email to MBC News First ........... 28th Aug 2006

2006-08-28T16:13:00.000+05:30

The following email was sent to Maharaja Broadcasting Corporation's News First Division today regarding the inconviences done to CBNsat & LBN, its employees and the subscribers.

Dear Sir/Madam,

We have for the first time in Sri Lanka formed a blog that gives information on the TV & Radio Industry in Sri Lanka. The aim is to inform the people and request the government for the introduction of digital tv and radio in sri lanka. As you may know several countries in the world are introducing digital tv and radio and have set deadlines for this purpose. In Sri Lanka there is no such plan.

Anyway we expanded our reach from the general purpose and had specialised blogs for the cable tv companies in sri lanka.

Please find the addresses of the blogs given below

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/

At the moment the blogs assigned to the individual companies such as CBNsat and LBN are concentrating on pressurising the authorities to restore services of these companies. These are independant blogs and not affliated to the companies in any way.

CBNsat has over 20,000 subscribers and LBN has over 10,000 subscribers and the viewship exceeds over 100,000.

These two companies were shutdown by the authorities and upto now they are not giving any consideration to the people who bought the connections from these companies.

People have spent their hard earned money to purchase these connections to watch educational programmes, sports programmes, etc which are not provided by the local tv channels.

News First is one of the most popular news bulletins in Sri Lanka, if not the most popular and Channel One MTV is the only private channel to carry out an English News bulletin.

Why has News First not given proper coverage of the court cases involving CBNsat and LBN. The News First motto is "We Report, You Decide". There has been no "We Report" on the matter regarding CBNsat and LBN. Where is Action TV which highlights the inconviences of the people in this country. Surely LBN and CBNsat customers are also being inconvienced and they are also citizens of Sri Lanka.

CBNsat and LBN are also media companies and it is very sad to note that News First is ignoring it and also the subscribers of these services.

This email that we are sending you will to be published on the LBN and CBNsat blogs.

We request News First to give due coverage and highlight the injustices done to the company, its employees and specially its subscribers in all three languages.

However at the moment it is regrettable that News First is not giving any information regarding the CBNsat and LBN case but we sincerely hope that this will change and News First will highlight the injustices done towards all parties involved in this case.

Thanking you for your time. Awaiting a favourable reply.

Regards
Admin

CBNsat appeals to the President

2006-08-28T09:27:00.000+05:30

The following advertisements appeared in yesterdays (Aug 27th) The Sunday Times, The Sunday Leader & Sunday Lankadeepa newspapers. Please forward this to all your contacts.

The fight has to move into Top Gear

2006-08-24T09:21:00.000+05:30

Yesterday was a very disappointing day for the customers of CBNsat and also for the employees and management of CBNsat. But it is time to put all that behind us and to continue our fight for justice.

We have posted below the reports from the Daily News, Island and Daily Mirror regarding yesterdays court case and we are also receiving reports that some of our readers have sent emails to the editors of certain newspapers expressing their frustration over yesterdays court ruling.

We would like someone knowledgeable in law to clarify the meaning of the following statement in the Daily Mirror report which states "Objections are to be filed on or before September 4 and the counter affidavit on or before September 12." The main text of the report is posted below this post.

Like we stated previously the motive of these corrupt people is to bring the company into bankruptcy by dragging this case since they cannot get a verdict against CBNsat. But they can have sleepless night because we will not let them do this nor will we let them get away with this. It is very sad indeed to note that a government which calls themselves the representatives of the people of sri lanka are not giving ear to the grievances of the people in this country. We understand that there are more serious issues in this country, but it makes one wonder how they will solve the more serious issues if they cannot solve a small matter like this.

Our hearts go out to the staff of CBNSat but it is high time they also took some sort of action because these corrupt people who go around making people jobless. Staff of CBNsat it is time to start something to make your voice heard.

We wonder how long this Defence Ministry approval will take but by judging the efficiency of our local authorities it will not surprise us if it is not anytime soon. By the way what is the BOI doing about all this? They should also bear the responsibility of what is happening since they approved the application of CBNsat. We wonder whether the new so called world class taxi service will also be sealed after one year under the allegation of carrying terror suspects. Will 3G be banned after one year? Will CDMA phones be banned?

Does Tv Lanka, Srilakvahini have Defence Ministry approval or are they somehow exempt due to political affliations? They probably are. What is the opposition party doing on behalf of CBNsat customers? Nothing at the moment.

People it is time to fire out in all directions. It is time to take a tougher stance on this issue, please email cbnsat@gmail.com declaring your support for this fight to CBNsat Subscribers Unite, lets encourage them since they have been fighting on your behalf. The CBNsat staff have also got to take action, since they are in danger of loosing their jobs.

Today CBNsat has got a magisterial court hearing which is nothing more than a showcase hearing since the judge in the magisterial court is incapable of making any decisions. We wonder how he became a judge in the first place. Please keep us updated on the indecisive statement made at the magistrates court as the day progresses and any information on CBNsat as the days go by.

Defence clearance prior to granting relief : SC - Daily Mirror Aug 24th, 2006

2006-08-24T09:07:00.000+05:30

When the Fundamental Rights application filed by SonicNet Technologies (Pvt) Ltd against preventing it from operating its Communiq Broadband Network (CBN Sat) transmission, came up before the Supreme Court yesterday (23), Court was of the view that prior to granting any relief, Defence Clearance had to be obtained and fixed the matter to be supported for leave to proceed and for interim relief for September 18.

The Bench comprised Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, Justices Saleem Marsoof and Andrew Somawansa.

Counsel for the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (TRC) informed Court that the President, acting under his powers, had directed to obtain Defence Clearance from a committee appointed for that purpose, prior to granting license.

He moved for time to inform Court of the progress made by the Defence Clearance. Objections are to be filed on or before September 4 and the counter affidavit on or before September 12.

The Supreme Court had earlier made directions for a compromise settlement on the consent of all parties, to expedite the operation of CBN Sat transmission, with safeguards to monitor it.

Observing that the equipment in issue, had been seized and sealed on June 6 this year, by a Magistrate order, provision had been given to Petitioner SonicNet Technologies (Pvt) Ltd, by the Supreme Court, to inspect and service the equipment and also, if necessary, to carry out test transmissions, due to the sophisticated nature of the equipment

Petitioner cited Chief Inspector U.K. Mahindadasa, SP A.R. Vaidyalankara and SI L. Tilak Bandara, Police Commercial Crimes Unit –II, the IGP and the Attorney General (AG) as Respondents.

The Petitioner states that Communiq Broadband Network (CBN) is an associate company situated at No. 83, George R.De Silva Mawatha, Colombo 13.

The Minister had issued a license on the recommendation of the TRC, for it to operate an External Gateway for International Telecommunications (EGO License) valid up to January 31, 2013.

It alleged that, on June 6, the first three Respondents wrongfully, unlawfully and/or without any right, sealed and seized its equipment and prevented it from using its equipment and operating its services.

The Petitioner pleaded that the Respondents claimed that they sealed and seized the premises under a Magistrate order. Petitioner contends that the Magistrate did not order or authorise to do so, in his order and search warrant.

The Petitioner is asking 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.

Romesh de Silva P.C. 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 1st to 5th Respondents and the AG. D.S. Wijesinghe P.C. appeared for the intervenient petitioner the Minister of Mass Media and Information. Palitha Kumarasinghe P.C. appeared for the TRC.

By S.S. Selvanayagam

Defence Ministry clearance needed for satellite transmission - The Island 24th Aug 2006

2006-08-24T08:44:00.000+05:30

Defence Ministry clearance and approval is needed for a satellite tranmsission licence under the SLRC Act Palitha Kumarasinghe P.C told the Supreme Court yesterday when he appeared for the TRC. The respondent in the fundamental rights violation application filed by the Sonic Net Technologies Private Limited, is challenging the seizure of their satellite transmission equipment and the sealing of their premises in Colombo on June 6th, 2006 by the CID.

Mr. Kumarasinghe said that the applications for licences were closed about a month back and the President had directed that thereafter, licences, issued under the SLRC Act should be granted only with Defence Ministry approval.

Counsel said that a committee comprising military personnel will study the issue and a report will be submitted to court, shortly. Any confidential documents will be submitted in a sealed envelope by counsel, for the perusal of Court.

Mr. Sathya Hettige, Additional Solicitor General said that, the Colombo Magistrate had permitted the servicing and the test transmission of the equipment. But general transmission was not allowed yet. He said that the earlier direction of the Supreme Court followed this issue. He wanted the status quo on this issue to remain the same for some time more and only test transmission and servicing should be allowed. The SC granted the request made by Mr. Hettige.

Romesh De Silva P.C who appeared for the petitioner said that his client had been operating for one year and both the SLTC and the TRC had made use of the clients good service. There had been no allegations against his client, whose premises were sealed on June 6th, 2006.

The TRC, the Minister of Media & Mass Communication and the CID will file further papers on the issue of granting satellite licence to Sonic Net Technologies and a few other similar companies.

The petition will be called before the Court again on September 18, 2006. Romesh De Ailva P.C, appeared with Sugath Caldera, instructed by G.G Arulpragasam for the petitioner, Sonic Net Technologies.

The Additional Solicitor General Sathya Hettige, appeared with the State Counsel Sumathi Dharmawardene, for the CID and the Attorney General,

Palitha Kumarasinghe P.C, appeared for the TRC. D.S Wijesinghe P.C, appeared for the Minister of Media and Mass Communication.

The Bench comprised, the Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, Justice Saleem Marsoof and Justice Andrew Somawansa.

by Chitra Weerarathne

SC allows application to file several issues pertaining to discussions held between Media Minister, CBN SAT - Daily News Aug 24th 2006

2006-08-24T08:41:00.000+05:30

The Supreme Court allowed an application by the counsel for the Media Minister to file several issues pertaining to discussions between the Media Minister and the broadcasting company, when the CBN SAT rights case was taken up, yesterday.

President’s Counsel D.S. Wijesinghe made the application on behalf of Media Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa who had discussions with the petitioner company regarding the granting of licences for the Direct to Home (DTH) satellite broadcasting.

The President’s Counsel submitted that during the discussions several important issues had been raised and moved to appraise the Court of them.

President’s Counsel Palitha Kumarasinghe for the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission submitted that the petitioner company should get the clearance and the approval of the Defence Ministry to operate the satellite broadcasting in terms of the Rupavahini Corporation Act.

The Court noted that the petitioner company might as well go through these formalities due to the security situation.

President’s Counsel Romesh de Silva submitted that the petitioner company was suffering heavy losses due to the closure. He submitted that around 20 new competitors were seeking licences; therefore, company was at a risk of losing its viewers.

The Bench comprised Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva PC and Justices Saleem Marsoof PC and 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 company stated that the respondents CID officers had sealed its office purportedly acting on a search warrant on June 6, in violation of its fundamental rights. The petitioner alleged that around 20,000 of its viewership was not able to watch the channels broadcast by the petitioner consequent to the actions of the respondents.

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

D.S. Wijesinghe PC appeared for the Media Minister. Palitha Kumarasinghe PC appeared for the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission.

ASG Saththya Hettige PC appeared for the respondents.

The case was put off for September 18.

By Wasantha Ramanayake

Conspiracy Against CBNSat

2006-08-23T13:07:00.000+05:30

Conspiracy is the only word to describe what is happening now. The CBNsat Supreme Court hearing is now postponed to September 18th. The postponement came after the Media Ministry says that they have submitted the CBNsat license applications to the Defense Ministry for further considerations. Accordingly till the clearance from the Defense Ministry (MoD) is given CBNsat will not be allowed to operate. We understand from the reports that when the CBNsat lawyers asked for the date in which they can commence operations the Chief Justice has said that due to this being a national security issue a date cannot be given. Therefore on the Sep 18th the Media Ministry has to hand over a document to the courts but this this is not a must and they can always say that the MoD has not given them the report.

The motive behind these moves is obviously to drive the company bankrupt. With the issuances of 3G licenses to mobile phones, etc. We wonder how the DTH technology can be the only threat to national security. Then the CDMA phones and 3G phones, etc and even companies like TV Lanka which is operated by a big time liar is also a threat to national security. It is a crime to victimise a company that has been cleared by the SLRC and put 20,000 plus customers who have spent their hard earned money into this type of a situation. This is indeed the work of people who have connections to the higher ups in the government and there is no doubt about this. Whether the Media Minister himself has an interest in shutting down CBNSat since they seem to be people who are dragging this case further is yet to be seen.

This is going to damage this country's image in terms of foreign investments, etc. These authorities have no consideration about the public who voted them into these positions and they think that they were born into these positions. We cannot let them go on destroying business at this rate.

The customers of CBNsat who are definitely demoralised by this decision must not give up their fight. They will have to take this fight to newer heights and see to it that these corrupt individuals are exposed alongside with their lapdog politicians.

CBNsat is however allowed to service their equipment and carry out test transmission under the supervision of the TRC. CBNsat is scheduled to have the Magistrates court hearing tomorrow and we cannot hope that anything useful will come out of that one because that too has been dragging for a long time.

We would like our readers to keep us updated on any new developments about CBNsat and those of you who would like to contact the Media Ministry can do so on these phone numbers

Mr. W.B.Ganegala
Secretary of the Media Ministry
Tel : 011 2513367 / 2513458
Fax: 011 2513365

Ms. Mallika Joseph
Coordinating secretary to Mr. Ganegala
Tel : 011 2513367
Fax : 011 2513365

Hon. Minister Mr. Anura Priyadarshana Yapa M.P.
Hon. Minister of Mass Media & Information
Tel : 011 2513370 / 2513508
Fax: 011 2513440

The Ball is in your courts Your Honour Chief Justice

2006-08-23T09:23:00.000+05:30

Today (23rd Aug) CBNSat will be having their Supreme Court hearing. According to the previous Supreme Court hearing the licensing issues will have to be finalised by today. As of now we are getting reports that the highly efficient Media Ministry has not done anything. This shows the respect that they have for the law in this country. They obviously think that thay are above the law.

We know that the Chief Justice has issued some landmark verdicts and we hope that the same will apply once again. The Media Ministry asks for one month at each court hearing to issue the license and this is nothing but a ploy to drive the company bankrupt.

We demand that even if the license is issued or not today we want CBNSat to be back on air from today. The hanky panky of the Media Ministry must stop. Your Honour Chief Justice we request you to rule that CBNSat should start operations immediately and please take stern action against the officials who are holding ministerial posts since they are holding such posts because the people voted them into power.

Sir, you are the only one who can end this case that has been instigated by corrupt officials.

We would like to request all our readers to keep us posted on the time of todays hearing and also update us on the result of todays hearing.

CBNSat matter before Supreme Court today - The Island 23rd Aug 2006

2006-08-23T09:20:00.000+05:30

At a Supreme Court hearing held on August 3rd 2006, the Chief Justice ordered the relevant authorities to take necessary measures to remove the seals from the equipment for maintaining and servicing purposes as well as the commencement of test transmission. This order was carried out by the CID officials on the 8th of August.

The Chief Justice requested the parties concerned to have a meeting to finalise matters they have with regards to the issue of any licenses and conditions. Even though the Media Ministry, through their lawyers, requested the Court to allow them one month to finalise the licences and any conditions the Chief Justice conveyed that this was too long and the time limit was set at two weeks. The 2 weeks limit express on the 17th of August 2006. The authorities will have time to resolve it before the 23rd of August when the case will be called again.

CBNSat is hopeful that the Media Ministry and TRC will finalise the issue of the license or what ever conditions that they may want to impose without any further delay, taking into consideration the plight of around 100,000 viewers who have been disadvantaged form the prolonged closure and constant delays that CBNSat has been subjected to.

CBNSat has stated in Court that they will have no objection to allow and aid the authorities in the supervision and monitoring of their transmissions in order to allay any feared threat to national security. The Chief Justice commented that should any unsuitable content broadcast with regard to any terrorist propaganda, surely at least one of the many subscribers would have brought it to the notice of the relevant authorities, which has not happened to date.

With regards to this issue, officials of The Telecommunications Regulatory Commission the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation and the CID have visited the CBNSat premise and after a thorough inspection have handed in reports to the Courts Representatives of CBNSat Affirm that these reports clearly state that there is no transmission of any terrorist channels and the decoders sold by CBNSat cannot be used to receive any particular terrorist channels, thereby eliminating the concerns over the threat to national security.

The officials at CBNSat have gone a step further and agreed to comply with any regulations the necessary authorities would want them to adhere to Through this they hope to have a much better understanding with the authorities that would cause less confusion among the authorities in the future.

Press Release appears on Newspapers

2006-08-21T15:42:00.000+05:30

The CBNSat Press Release has appeared in several newspapers like The Sunday Times and The Nation. There are other newspapers who will be publishing this press release within the next few days, according to informed sources.

The Sunday Times published the article under the heading "Media ministry ignoring CJ orders" and The Nation gave a summary of the press briefing.

We demand that the authorities consider the plight of the subscribers and also respect the decision of the Chief Justice and allow CBNSat to operate from Wednesday 23rd Aug.

CBNSat Subscribers Unite is doing a great job and we really appreciate their efforts to fight for the rights of CBNSat Subscribers.

CBNSat Subscribers Unite Press Release (Sinhala)

2006-08-18T08:51:00.000+05:30

The Sinhala Language version of the Press Release from CBNSat Subscribers Unite is given above. The Press Release was made in English and Sinhala. Please forward this to all your contacts.

CBNSat Subscribers Unite Press Release (English)

2006-08-17T16:49:00.000+05:30

The English Language version of the Press Release from CBNSat Subscribers Unite is given above. The Press Release was made in English and Sinhala. Please forward this to all your contacts.