2006 : A Year in Review - Comet Cable

The year 2006 has been a pretty ordinary year for the subscribers of Comet Cable. Even though they have not experienced any new significant addition of channels or technology they will be happy that they were not affected by the crisis that hit the cable television industry. The only major change that we can identify is the change in the layout of their website which took place recently.

Well at least for now they seem to be going as usual expect for the fact that this company is having a series of management and financial problems. In addition to a court case with the TRC regarding the allocation of frequencies (please refer post below) and the notice of withdrawal of license if they did not pay the due amount to the Southern Development Authority.

In 2007 we hope that Comet Cable the pioneer cable television company will be able to update their technology to digital since they will have massive competition from pay television companies such as CBNsat under Dialog Telekom and also SLT's pay television service in the next year. If the present management lack the funds to do it then they should sell the company to another and let Comet Cable improve.

Well that's all folks for this year since we are taking the weekend and January 1st 2007 off, so we will be back with you from January 2nd 2007. Please keep sending us your valuable emails and also updating this blog with your comments on the latest happenings regarding Comet Cable during the next few days while we are away and also throughout the New Year 2007. For a full review on all the events in the Sri Lankan television and radio media front please read the TV & Radio Sri Lanka Blog post called "2006 : A Year in Review".

We like to take this opportunity to wish all of our fellow Bloggers, the Staff and Management of Comet Cable specially Mr. Harold who was keeping in touch with us earlier but not anymore A Happy, Peaceful and Prosperous New Year 2007

Restraining order on Telecommunications Regulatory Commission - Daily News 28th Dec 2006

The Colombo District Court yesterday issued an enjoining order restraining the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission until January 9, from preventing Ruhunu 2001 Multivision (Pvt) Ltd using any of the 18 frequencies that it is using presently.

District Judge Aruna C. Ranasinghe issued the enjoining order following the petitioner Ruhunu Multivision (Pvt) Ltd filing a case against the TRC valuing the case at Rs. 500 million.

The petitioner stated that it was functioning a Television Network under the name of Comet Cable which included world famous channels Star TV, Star Plus, Star Sports, ESPN, HBO and National Geographic.

The petitioner stated that it received a letter by the TRC dated December 17, 2004 that requested them to quit using five of their channels since the International Telecommunication Organisation had recommended the 2.4 GHz frequency band for WiFi and data usage. It also promised to give alternative frequencies instead.

The petitioner further stated that the TRC informed them through a letter dated June 30, 2007 to transfer to Digital technology from Analogue technology that they were using since the Analogue technology was not efficient. Although the petitioner mentioned the need for alternative frequencies the respondent did not take proper steps.

The Petitioner also stated that changing the technology from Analogue to the Digital was costly and although they changed the technology TRC did not have the right to prevent petitioner from using its frequencies without giving them alternative frequencies.

Petitioner pleaded the Court to issue a declaration preventing the TRC had no right to prevent the Ruhunu 2001 Multivision (Pvt) Ltd using any of its 18 frequencies from 2.3 GHz to 2.6 GHz without procuring them alternative frequencies.

Sandasen Marasinghe

Our Wishes for the season

We would like to take this opportunity to Wish the subscribers of Comet Cable, the management of Comet Cable, and all our fellow readers a Very Merry Christmas and we hope that you will be able to enjoy this festive season to the fullest.

We are taking a break of one week (we should be back towards the latter part of next week) in view of the festive season so please update this blog with the latest developments regarding Comet Cable. We are also updating this blog to the latest version of "Blogger", so due to this upgrade their may be some difficulties in commenting, so please bear with us if there are some problems while we are away. We are trying our best to make sure that the switch over will be smooth and with minimum interruptions.

It is disappointing to note that the management of Comet Cable has gone back on its word to convert to digital by the years end and now it seems that Comet Cable will struggle for survival if the license is withdrawn. We hope that the authorities will take into consideration the investment of the customers before taking any action.

Once again we would like to request you to keep updating this blog as the days progress.

Sri Lanka's Comet Cable faces withdrawal of license unless royalty dues are paid up - LBO

The Southern Development Authority, major shareholder of Comet Cable, has warned it will withdraw the company’s broadcast rights, unless royalties owed since 1997, are paid up.

The Southern Development Authority (SDA) owns the broadcast license for Ruhuna 2001 Multivision (Pvt) Limited, used to provide pay television service Comet Cable in Sri Lanka.

The SDA is also a 50 percent shareholder in Multivision, with the balance held by Australian company Charmway International, which manages the company.

The authority says it has not received royalty dues from its foreign partners for use of the license, as agreed in a joint venture agreement signed in 1997. The royalties were to be used to develop the south of the island.

"Charmway International has been given one month’s notice to pay 12 million dollars in due investment, allocate funds for the proposed ‘Ruhuna 2001 studios’ company and pay 65 million rupees in estimated royalties to SDA or undergo cancellation of the agreement," Ruwan Kasiwaththa, Director policy planning SDA told LBO.

"After completing all the legalities, we can withdraw the broadcasting license." Kasiwaththa says Charmway has also not provided the SDA with detailed accounts for many years.

"They provided accounts for 2003. The accounts for that year forecasts 65 million rupees in royalties up to 2005."

The SDA says Multivision has paid only seven million rupees in royalties to date and claim that they have little say in how the company is run due to only one slot on the board of directors.

"Accordingly, the SDA has demanded payment and Multivision has continuously failed to make any payments," the authority said in a public notice on Friday.

The public notice also restrained the sale, mortgage, transfer or alienation of assets of the pay television company, until all overdue amounts are settled.

"Under these circumstances, the SDA has demanded the assets of Multivision should not be sold, transferred, mortgaged or alienated by its directors or the management until the aforesaid royalty fees is recovered by the SDA."

Officials from Multivision were not available for comment.

Comet Cable has an 18,000 strong customer base and is one of the oldest pay television companies in Sri Lanka with 18 paid channels ranging from movies, sports, fashion to music.

The service is currently available only in the capital Colombo and suburbs.

December 15 (LBO)

The Notice

Transfer of Comet Cable shares stopped

We are getting reports of an advertisement on Page 37 of today's Daily News stating that the transfer of the shares of Comet Cable has been halted by the Southern Development Authority because the license used by Comet Cable belongs to them.

We are not sure to which party the transfer of shares was to take place. However Comet Cable which is already troubled due to their outdated technology as well as a sure increase in competition from soon to be launched cable television providers owned by Dialog (CBNsat) as well as Sri Lanka Telecoms cable television and the others that may be on the cards.

We hope that Comet Cable will be improved soon since it is a shame to see the pioneer cable television company in Sri Lanka going through all these troubles.

Comet Cable to be taken over by Srilakvahini

We are receiving unconfirmed reports that Comet Cable is to be taken over by Futuresat the company that operates Srilakvahini. It was reported in the TV Radio Sri Lanka blog under the blog post "Management Crisis at Srilakvahini" that at the moment there is a tussle going on within the management of Futuresat. We are not sure how this will become a reality amidst that tussle.

According to information that are receiving it seems that the digital transmissions will commence in January. It also seems that the digital box can be reserved. However we repeat this is not a confirmed report.

Well at least lets hope that this is true otherwise Comet will get smashed up by the competition.

Some Comet Cable Customers planning move

We are receiving a couple of interesting emails and comments by some Comet Cable customers saying that they are awaiting the relaunch of CBNsat under Dialog Telekom in order to move to CBNsat. This is mainly due to the fact that the digital launch of Comet Cable is being dragged on indefinitely and they promised to launch the digital transmissions by the end of this year but nothing is happening still.

An email that we sent to Comet Cable a few weeks ago has not been replied to either. If Comet does not get their act together it may spell the end for the pioneering cable television company in Sri Lanka because they will face intense competition from the likes of CBNsat and the upcoming cable television companies.