Advanced Television

India’s Hathway switches off 200,000 cable subs

February 4, 2014

By Chris Forrester

Indian cable TV giant Hathway Cable & Datacom were forced to switch off some 200,000 set-top boxes in the Bengaluru region because the home-owners had failed to complete their all-important Customer Application Forms (CAF). These paper documents are vital to the whole digitisation process, and without a completed CAF the cable MSOs must disconnect service.

However, there are some grumbles. Some home-owners claim they have filled in their CAFs but admin errors or simple bureaucratic log-jams have meant their documents have not been properly registered.

Hathway say the regulator’s rules must be observed, or else they will be penalised.

Viewers had until January 27th to submit their forms via their local cable operator.

Other problems centre on ‘missing’ set-top boxes. Another giant MSO, Fastway Transmission, says some 50,000 boxes have gone astray – and have been switched off.  It is inviting former subscribers to visit their local cable provider’s office to swap the old box for a new digital device.

Categories: Articles, Broadcast, Cable