Round 1 of cable war goes to Marans

The TDSAT ruling has ensured that the case will go on at least for a few more months. This isn’t good news for Azhagiri because thousands of consumers across Madurai and other areas in South Tamil Nadu are upset with RCV for not showing Sun’s bouquet. Cable operators have also turned against Azhagiri’s network as the public has been hammering them for Sun channels.

When Azhagiri’s RCV network was launched on June 9, all Sun Group channels—about 20 in four south Indian languages—were taken off air.

But things turned around due to public pressure and to deny an outright victory to his rivals, Azhagiri went to TDSAT, though with little change in the result.

“The case will take months to resolve as the Sun Group is equally powerful in terms of their financial might. In the meantime, pressure from the public will make his position weaker,” said an independent operator.

In fact, several operators, on condition of anonymity, said that they were all ready to join the RCV fold, if they lift the blackout on Sun channels. “Without those channels, we will not be able to go to the public with connections or collection,” they said.

The Marans seem to have won this round of the family spat. Several households in Tamil Nadu are opting for DTH systems, mainly Sun’s. Sun Direct is now the rage in Madurai, with over 1,500 sets being sold in the recent past.

It is the operators who are caught in the middle. “People going for DTH means less business for us. The Sun Group is now considering RCV operators as deserters and are not ready to understand the physical and financial threats that we face,” said another operator.