Conditional access

The cable operator has gained total domination even though it8217;s not clocked even a year in Raipur. In 2002, it bought over the city8217;s two leading cable networks, CG Cables and Ozh Vision. Gradually, it ousted small cable operators and expanded its network in other towns, obtaining telecast rights of all leading pay channels. Of the 2,000 cable operators in the state, about 800 joined the Akash network as local agents or 8216;8216;pointers8217;8217;. Those who didn8217;t were forced out of business, critics say.

Take the case of Naveen Sharma, a small Raipur cable operator. 8216;8216;Our control room was closed down by the state excise officials a few hours after it became functional,8217;8217; he says. 8216;8216;Akash Channel also started giving free cable connections in our areas. Some of the cable operators received threats. Ultimately we had to compromise.8217;8217; Sharma now works under the Akash banner.

But Awasthi denies Jogi8217;s patronage. 8216;8216;This is false propaganda. I really don8217;t know how the chief minister8217;s name came into focus. I have equally good relations in the BJP. My father-in-law Onkar Tiwari has been a five-time BJP MLA in Madhya Pradesh. One of my cousins is an RSS activist.8217;8217;

lt;20030720/news3a.jpg8221; width=8221;1508243; height=8221;2528243; align=8221;left8221; vspace=8221;48243;>But not many are convinced. Viewers complain that news channels like Star TV, Zee, Aaj Tak and NDTV have been blocked on more than one occasion. Star was the first to suffer a blackout. Zee has been off air for over a month now in Chhattisgarh.

In a letter to Union I038;B Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, 22 BJP MLAs wrote that the April 4 Star News coverage of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee8217;s visit to Bilaspur was blacked out. The opposition alleges that the Akash cable channel8217;s inhouse 24-hour news channel Abhi Abhi, is replete with distortions.

Says BJP8217;s Raipur MLA Brij Mohan Aggarwal, 8216;8216;Jogi plans to use this cable network to influence the assembly elections in November. If there is any adverse news story on national TV channels it8217;s promptly blocked.8217;8217;

Jogi denies manipulating Akash or any 8216;8216;direct or indirect8217;8217; connection with its promoters. 8216;8216;This is all bullst, a canard spread by the BJP and sangh parivar. I will sue each of them,8217;8217; he says. The chief minister plans to send a legal notice to Pramod Mahajan, the BJP general secretary, who made the link between Akash and Jogi in a recent newspaper interview.

Awasthi is equally belligerent. 8216;8216;Jogi has not given me a diamond or gold mine in Chhattisgarh. I invested my money and started a business like many others.8217;8217;

As for blocking select transmissions, he says: 8216;8216;We did not block the transmission of Aaj Tak when V C Shukla was being interviewed on Seedhi Baat.8217;8217; Shukla, of course, is the state president of the NCP and Jogi8217;s old rival. What of Vajpayee8217;s visit to Bilaspur? 8216;8216;We covered the prime minister8217;s visit live on our own news channel, Abhi Abhi,8217;8217; Awasthi insists.

Allegation. Counter-allegation. In election year, Chhatisgarh8217;s very own soap just goes on and on.