Liquor ads put cable operators in a tight spot

SURAT, March 10: The prohibition police have stirred up a hornet's nest by initiating legal proceedings against a cable operator for showing...

SURAT, March 10: The prohibition police have stirred up a hornet’s nest by initiating legal proceedings against a cable operator for showing liquor advertisements on a pay channel as all operators of Surat have withdrawn Star Movies channel from the air fearing raids.

They decided to black out the channel when Star Company’s Ahmedabad-based representatives told them there is no question of blocking those signals.

The prohibition department’s Saturday raid on a Zampa Bazar operator as part of its efforts to implement the dry law strictly sent panic signals and also confused operators simultaneously. This was the first ever raid on any operator in Gujarat.

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The confusion cropped up because liquor advertisements are shown on a host of free to air channels. The prohibition department however says that they won’t face any action in case of free to air channels but because they use decoders in case of pay channels.

To the cable operators’ defence that they are only relaying original signals is countered bythe department saying if they had not acquired those decoders the signals would not have been beamed.

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