The Cable Guy

A skyline transformed by large satellite dishes is one of the many aspects of the business Kishore is nostalgic about. We used to deal directly with broadcasters. And as mobile phones were still not common,people would come to my office,requesting for connections or channels. They would offer me tea at their homes, he says. Twenty years on,Kishores customers have become more impatient; some do not think twice of calling him up at 2 am with complaints. He has stopped dealing directly with broadcasters,as high operating costs due to an increased number of channels have made way for the emergence of large intermediaries,known as multi-system operators (MSOs),who now,along with the broadcasters,call the shots. The local cable operator falls in line. Kishore,for example,is now installing set-top boxes provided by his MSO to 700 homes to meet the November 1 deadline of mandatory digitisation in Delhi.

In Bangalore,Muniraju too basks in nostalgia. When I started out 15 years ago,the cable operator was a powerful person in a locality and customers tried to keep him happy. We now command influence only in lower middle-class homes that still use our services, he says.

As satellite channels transformed the idea of entertainment,thousands of cable operators,like Kishore and Muniraju,grabbed the economic opportunity they represented. Along the way they fuelled the cable revolution in India and became Mr Fix-It for all TV crises but also earned themselves notoriety. For a long time,the cable operator was the brazen pirate who would under-report bills and viewers and erode revenues for all the broadcaster,the MSO and the government. The governments mandatory digitisation drive,which is being enforced in several cities in phases,is seen as a corrective to this. Rohit Nagpal of Babli Star Vision,which caters to 800 homes in Daryaganj,old Delhi,is indignant at the charge. We under-report our revenues because the customer doesn’t pay bills for six months,and then connects to another cable operator. He may have three TV sets but pays for one connection. He is the real thief!

The cable operator,though,still counts: according to FICCI-KPMG report,2012,126 million of the 147 million homes in India with a TV set use cable TV today. But the rules of the game have changed. We are no longer the kings, says Nagpal,who serviced some1,200 homes before other cable operators and DTH ate into their pie. The customer is king now. Earlier,people were content with only four-five channels. Now if even one of the 200 channels doesnt beam,they demand it be fixed immediately.

Many cable operators are,thus,selling their businesses to MSOs. Anjan Chatterjee,the man behind Jamshedpurs Steel City Cable Network,one of the largest cable operators in the city,has been in business since cable started,but now calls himself an office in-charge. Chatterjee,like four other cable operators in Jamshedpur,has allowed an MSO to acquire 51 per cent of his business. He says he doesnt have a choice. Someone has to bear the cost of set-top boxes the MSO buys them for Rs 1,799,but we cannot afford to pass on that cost to the customer, he says.

In the face of such sweeping changes,LCOs still repose their faith in customer relations. We are the only strangers customers let into their bedrooms. Everyone else is attended to at the door, says Nagpal. Ahmedabads Ashish Teraiya believes he has an edge over DTH because we broadcast festival videos and city events.

Nevertheless,the cable operator is looking for a Plan B. Kishore has started a photo studio,Muniraju has become a real estate agent,and Nagpal has taken to politics.

With Johnson TA,Deepu Sebastian Edmond and Lakshmi Ajay