Sri Lankan Cable TV Crisis

About CBNsat

Known as Communiq Broadband Networks (Pvt) Ltd., they are Sri Lanka's first and only DTH Pay TV Provider which commenced operations in July 2005.

It is also the first Digital Satellite Tv Station in Sri Lanka broadcasting using DVB-S satellite technology and is only the second DVB-S DTH company in South Asia after Dish Tv of India.

They became trendsetters in the pay tv field when they were able to achieve a level of sales that was not accomplished by any other cable tv provider in Sri Lanka.

They have a channel capacity of approximately 120 channels.

The enryption mechanism used was Irdeto using MPEG2 compression.

The Decoders provided by them were locked so that it cannot be used to receive any FTA transmission and only provided the transmissions from the CBNsat Earth Station.

The CEO of CBNsat is Mr. Muhunthan Canagey. They are well known businessman who have successfully established one of Sri Lanka's well known brand of computers known as EPSI Computers (Pvt) Ltd.,

They are known to be businessman who hold up business ethics to their highest standards.

About LBN

LBN is the first cable based operator of pay tv in Sri Lanka. Operations were commenced approximately 6 years ago. Their broadcasts were carried on regular coaxcial cables that were placed along posts on the ground. The serve in the metropolitan area of Wellawatte onwards towards Moratuwa.

A week before they were shutdown they converted their system to DVB-C systems.

The CEO of LBN is Mr. Shirantha Herath.

The Beginning

Length of Crisis June 6 2006) to Present.

The Day was June 6 2006 at approximately 9:30PM CBNSat went off air in what would be the beginning of the Cable TV Crisis in Sri Lanka. Not long after on June 15 2006 LBN also went off air. The sealing of the two cable stations has inconvienced approximately 25,000 CBNsat Customers and 10,000 LBN Customers plus putting into risk the jobs of approximately 300 employees of CBNsat. It is not clear how many employees are on the payroll of LBN.

Allegations

The reasons given at the time of shutdown of CBNsat was that they were not possessing a valid broadcasting license. The same allegation was used for the shutdown of LBN.

However for CBNsat as the court case progressed there were different allegations that were being brought out such as aiding in the transmission of the LTTE Satellite TV channel which however is continuing even while CBNsat is shut.

There was also a suspicion raised by authorities on why the LTTE tv channel and CBNsat were broadcast using the same satellite. However these allegations are all viewed as an attempt by businessman with high political connections to bring into disrepute a company that would have posed a lot of competition to their businesses.

Later another allegation was brought up citing the broadcast of Fashion Tv over CBNsat since the authorities complained that does not suit the culture of Sri Lanka. However only CBNsat were accused of this and all the other Cable tv channels in Sri Lanka continued to telecast Fashion Tv.

At every court hearing the allegations against the company keep changing into one of the above causing one to form the opinion that the authorities are just running around in circles trying to keep this operator shut.

However the allegations against LBN have not changed in any way and the initial allegation of not having a valid broadcast license still stands. However no solution arrived at for them too.

CBNsat Court Case Summary

The CBNSat Court Cases which started soon after the closure of this Pay TV DTH operator commenced from June 8 2006.

Every hearing ended with a postponement and this case which began at the Magistrates Court is also being fought at the Appeals, Supreme Court also.

CBNsat had also brought the CID personnel who sealed the station to courts to sue them.

After not seeing an end to the extending court battle, CBNsat had petitioned the Supreme Court to resolve the matter. At the Supreme Court hearings the Chief Justice of Sri Lanka had ordered the unsealing of the station and allowed CBNsat to carry out test transmissions.

During the recent hearings however CBNsat had been asked to obtain Defense Ministry Approval. At the last hearing it was mentioned that the Court hearing will be postponed to November 6 2006 since the Defense Ministry is still reviewing the application. It was also stated that CBNsat could sign an agreement with any other service provider in Sri Lanka with a license for Satellite broadcasts and commence transmissions under their license until they obtain a license.

LBN Court Case Summary

LBN which was sealed just a few days after CBNsat. They are fighting the case at the Magistrates and Appeals Court level.

Just after CBNsat was given the permission for carrying out test transmissions, LBN were also allowed to carry out test transmissions on a weekly basis.

LBN is said to have obtained the Defense Ministry Clearance and also their TRC application has been processed. However due to the inavailability of the President and also since the Media Ministry license is still being processed, the Court Case has been postponed to October 3.