March 9: A joint survey to ascertain the exact number of cable TV subscribers in the city by pay channels and cable operators has failed to take off owing to sharp differences between the two sides.

The survey was aimed at resolving the dispute between the channels and the operators over declaration of total connectivity (that is, the total number of cable and satellite households) on which they collect and pay revenue respectively. Secondly, the exact number of subscribers will help the administration boost its tax collection as the cable operators should pay Rs 10 as tax for each connection.

The Kamrup (metropolitan) district administration had directed the broadcasters and cable TV operators to carry out the survey in August last year to end the dispute over declaration of total connectivity by the cable operators. But till date, the survey could not be started with both parties blaming each other for the impasse.

Additional deputy commissioner Zakir Hussain, who was appointed nodal officer to look into matters related to cable service, said the survey could not be conducted because of the indifference of the broadcasters.

Pleading helplessness, Hussain said they could not do much about it as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has not vested them with adequate powers to crack down on non-complying broadcasters.

A meeting between cable operators and broadcasters, chaired by Hussain and held at the deputy commissioner?s office on August 29 last year, resolved that a joint survey, comprising representatives of all pay channels, cable TV associations and local cable operators along with the district administration officials, will be conducted from seven days of the meeting to settle the problem of under declaration by the cable TV operators in the market.

At the meeting, it was agreed that unless the survey is conducted, no pay channel can arbitrarily upgrade the connectivity of any network. The meeting also resolved that no pay channel or broadcaster will impose or force any cable operator to include any new channel to the package, which may result in hike in price for the end users.

Even after taking these decisions, the district administration has failed to make the parties conduct the survey. When the cable operators blame the broadcasters for not starting the survey, a representative of a pay channel said they have sought a list of their subscribers before going for the survey which the operators allegedly did not furnish.

The survey of the cable TV subscription was supposed to include the list and address of control rooms, name of address of decoder holders, total number of paid subscribers per control room and the area of operation of control rooms.