At least 200,000 homes in Calcutta missed watching the recent India-Sri Lanka Test series and are now missing Lionel Messi in action in the La Liga.
The reason? Multi-system operator Hathway has blanked out Sony channels from its packages although consumers have already paid for them.
Hathway took off air channels of broadcaster Multi Service Media (MSM), including Sony, SAB, SIX, KIX, PIX, AXN and Animax, on August 13 following a payment dispute.
Both MSM and Hathway say consumer rights have been violated as they have paid for the service, but blamed each other for the impasse.
The blackout could not have come at a worse time for Kasba resident and cricket buff Gopinath Sinha as the first Test between India and Sri Lanka had started on August 12 and Sony SIX and KIX were telecasting it.
Hathway, the largest MSO in India, has around 200,000 connections out of 30 lakh cable homes in the city, an industry source said.
Sinha said he subscribed to the highest package, paying Rs 380 a month, to get all the sports channels. "I was shocked to see Sony SIX blanked out."
Soccer fans are missing Spanish football action since the La Liga season started on August 22.
Businessman Raja Mukherjee, 35, a Messi fan was stumped on August 23 when he tuned into KIX but could not watch the Barcelona-Athletic Bilbao match. "I was missing the football. Others in my family could not watch CID on Sony. As there was no clarification from cable operators, we switched to Tata Sky."
A cable operator said 100 of them had met Hathway officials at their Salt Lake office recently and were promised that the channels would be back soon.
Makran Palekar, executive vice-president, sales and marketing, of MSM's media distribution wing, said: "When our agreement with Hathway for places other than Calcutta, Delhi and Mumbai expired in March and they showed no sign of paying up, we withdrew the signals. Now, almost in retaliation, they have taken off our channels from these cities."
Hathway CEO Jagdish Kumar said Sony had raised channel prices so high that the MSO was left with no option but to remove them.
