Many people have missed out on English Premier League and Formula 1 as STAR Sports Select HD 1 and 2 have been blacked out of their TV sets despite having high definition set-top box and connection.

The broadcaster had announced earlier this year that the channels would be available only on HD.

STAR Sports Select HD 1 and 2 were available on the HD packages of all multi-system operators in the city from November 1.

But they went missing from the HD menu of Hathway from the second week.

Of the 3.2 million cable connections in Calcutta, 250,000 belong to Hathway, of which an estimated 5 per cent have HD connection.

Neither local cable operators nor the Hathway authorities have given any reason behind the blackout or when the channels are expected to return, many of the aggrieved consumers said.

"I have missed the Manchester United-Arsenal match as well as all the other important clashes in EPL over the past two weeks," Rupnarayan Bose, 68, of BE Block in Salt Lake said. "This Sunday, I was unable to catch the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Why should I suffer when I have an HD set-top box as well as connection?"

Bose said he had phoned Hathway's grievance cell and even tried calling on the various phone numbers given on the MSO's website. "I got a standard response: this number doesn't exist."

As a last resort, Bose tweeted his grievance on Saturday tagging STAR Sports and Hathway. STAR Sports replied: "@rnbose We've made Select HD available to all operators for free till July-17. It's eventually their decision whether to opt for it or not."

Hathway officials told Metro that consumers would have to go for an a la carte menu to get the Select HD channels at a monthly rate of Rs 80 each.

"People watching premium content must be ready to pay for it. It was a commercial consideration for us and we decided to take STAR Sports Select HD 1 and STAR Sports Select HD 2 channels out of the HD pack ahead of competitors," a Hathway official said from Mumbai.

He claimed the MSO had alerted local cable operators that the two channels would be available on an an al carte menu. "We will find out why cable operators in Calcutta are not helping consumers subscribe to the channels on an a la carte basis."

Hathway now provides 50 HD channels at Rs 152 a month. This excludes the rental for the base package of SD channels.

STAR Sports Select HD 1 and 2 were part of this HD package of Hathway till early November.

The two channels, however, remain a part of the HD package of other MSOs such as Siti, Manthan and GTPL-KCBPL.

Many Hathway subscribers said they had no issues with paying Rs 160 more for the channels but the MSO should be transparent in its dealings.

Deepak Mitra of Salt Lake said he went for a HD set-top box and connection only because of the STAR Sports Select channels. "But I am considering direct-to-home service providers," he said.

A cable operator said he could not inform subscribers about the channels as Hathway hadn't told him anything officially.