Calcutta, Aug. 16: Television screens are set to go blank for 24 hours from tomorrow morning to protest the hike in service tax and introduction of education cess on the cable industry.

Holding viewers to ransom in the nationwide blackout are multi-system operators (MSOs) assembled under the banner of the All India Cable TV Forum. “So long, MSOs were having to pay the service tax from their own pockets since it is not being collected from the ground everywhere,” said Jawahar Goel, a spokesperson for the body and SitiCable head. “The increase makes it even worse for us.”

The forum wants service tax for the cable industry to be scrapped. Among the reasons cited are that parallel services like broadband are not taxed, nor channel broadcasters.

After several rounds of meetings, a spokesperson for RPG Netcom — the largest MSO in the city, covering 60 per cent of cable homes in greater Calcutta — confirmed it would take part in the strike. Channels will be off air between 10 am tomorrow and 10 am on Wednesday. Two Doordarshan channels and four private news channels will remain on air.

SitiCable and Manthan will follow RPG Netcom, their officials said. CableComm, the fourth multi-system operator in the city, has said it will not participate.

There is not much support for the strike. “The MSOs did not consult us before taking the extreme step,” an operator under RPG Netcom said. “We do not support the strike,” he added.

Some operators said channels that they air locally, such as “cable” channels showing films, will be available.

Service tax on cable services was increased in the budget from 8 to 10 per cent and a further education cess of two per cent has been levied.