Cable news: Pay Rs 20 more for TV channels

bangalore: you may have to pay rs 20 more for cable tv, though operators are yet to decide on the exact amount of increase. ``we are yet to work out the modalities depending on the direction we get from the centre,'''' says the karnataka cable tv chamber of commerce. the latest hike is a fallout of a 5 per cent service tax proposed in the union budget.chamber members complain that they are already reeling under profession tax, entertainment tax, postal registration fee and frequent increases in pay channel rates. the solution? ``we prefer a minimum annual slab system. otherwise, this system may lead to unnecessary harassment by the officials, resulting in tax losses and other bottlenecks,'''' says chamber president p. mohan. cable operators plan to submit a memorandum to the centre outlining their problems regarding the recent levy. "in delhi, cable operators have refused to pay the service tax," say chamber vice-president a. jagdish and general secretary m.r. amruth kumar. monthly cable rates now vary from rs 75 to rs 250, depending on the location. the state government levies a monthly tax of rs 1,500 for the city-level cable operators, rs 1,000 for the district level and rs 750 for the taluk level. the service tax is calculated depending on the monthly collection. this might lead to many loopholes in its collection, complain operators. over the years, the number of channels has increased from one to 90. there are around 3,000 cable operators in karnataka and each one serves an average of 500 households. operators say people watch only 50 per cent of the fare offered. an advanced system -- conditional access box -- where families will be provided only the channels watched by them regularly is yet to arrive. till then, it is surfing channels you don''t like. worse, paying for the ones you don''t even watch. with channels like sun, win tv and b4u likely to become pay channels in the coming months, there''s only bad news for cable tv watchers.