When Sourav Ganguly took guard at Cuttack on Wednesday afternoon, most cricket fans in Calcutta were either frantically flipping channels for (missing-in-action) Neo Sports or waiting helplessly in front of DD National screens showing a long shot of the Barabati Stadium.

And by the time they saw Dada smashing a four in the eighth over, he was actually trudging back to the pavilion, out for 13 in the ninth over.

Caught between the devil (read, no Neo Sports) and the deep blue sea (read, the seven-minute telecast gap on DD), the TV viewer found himself on familiar turf — at the mercy of broadcasters, multi-system operators (MSOs) and cablemen.

“Why must we be at the receiving end of every cable conflict?” wondered Anil Roy, 15, a budding cricketer and Sourav devotee.

This week’s face-off between Nimbus and city MSOs has once again highlighted the helplessness of the cable TV consumer.

“This is one industry where consumers hardly have a say. They can only watch what they are given and wait for things to improve. Only a complete switch to technology and transparency can give the viewer a choice,” said an industry veteran.

Wednesday also saw most city-based MSOs taking ETV off the air after a scrap over subscription rates.

Here too, a technology divide dominated. Trai has worked out tariffs only for CAS areas. The non-availability of Neo Sports and ETV is a result of that discrepancy, among the usual problems of a chaotic cable industry.

“For CAS areas, we have decided on a maximum retail price of Rs 5 per pay channel but there is no rule on the rates of channels outside the CAS zones. A guideline on this is very important under such circumstances,” said a Trai official on condition of anonymity.

Technology tripped viewers in the non-CAS areas on another score, with DTH service providers not having the Neo Sports option, yet.

“The high rates for the Neo and ETV bouquets of channels would burden the consumer and we cannot afford that. But no sudden switch-off should be allowed without serving a prior notice to the subscriber,” said Mrinal Chatterjee of Kolkata Cable and Pariseva Limited, the MSO beaming both Neo and ETV to around two lakh cable homes.