IndianMascot
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Hathway Viewers in Mumbai are omplaining about dwindling quality of Hathway cable TV services. As reported by moneylife.com , several customers of Hathway Cable are witnessing regular disruption, pixelation and disappearance of channels on the cable networks from Colaba to Andheri and other suburbs.
Pixelation or the fuzzy picture with all sorts of vertical and horizontal (wire mesh) disturbances running across the screen is a most common phenomenon with analog TV services. With the upcoming digitisation, it is expected to be a thing of past and people can watch TV with clean and clear image similar to direct-to-home (DTH) service. On the digital platform, pixelation may occur due to momentary delay in signal and the display unit (like TV) may not be able to decode the frames fast enough to render or show them properly.
Several customers have been complaining about the disappearance of their regular channels. One such customer from Bengaluru said, since September 2012, he is not been able to watch ETV Kannada (Channel No 642), while other ETV channels are being relayed by Hathway. He said this has happened for the second time.
According to sources, the disappearance of a particular channel or set of channels is related with non-payment of user fees to the broadcaster from the cable TV operator. However, many times, cable operators manage to access the blocked channel/s and relay it on some different set. For example, Hathway may use its “Local Cable 1”, “Local Cable 2” or “Local Cable 3” to relay the otherwise blocked channel. While some customers know about this practice, the same cannot be confirmed by the cable operators.
Hathway, on its part has made it clear that quality of its signal varies across locations. Here are the general parameters used by Hathway for cable TV relay service across its network...
Hathway says these parameters are achieved on its trunk and distribution network. “Performance of these parameters can vary from each STB location so much so that it can be different at two locations within the same household due to the nature of the internal cabling within the household. In such instances a Hathway technician or its local cable operator (LCO) will demonstrate the same at the tap off/splitter level that feeds the particular household that the parameters are met and the subscriber will then have to replace the internal cabling at his/her cost,” Hathway said on its site.
Pixelation or the fuzzy picture with all sorts of vertical and horizontal (wire mesh) disturbances running across the screen is a most common phenomenon with analog TV services. With the upcoming digitisation, it is expected to be a thing of past and people can watch TV with clean and clear image similar to direct-to-home (DTH) service. On the digital platform, pixelation may occur due to momentary delay in signal and the display unit (like TV) may not be able to decode the frames fast enough to render or show them properly.
Several customers have been complaining about the disappearance of their regular channels. One such customer from Bengaluru said, since September 2012, he is not been able to watch ETV Kannada (Channel No 642), while other ETV channels are being relayed by Hathway. He said this has happened for the second time.
According to sources, the disappearance of a particular channel or set of channels is related with non-payment of user fees to the broadcaster from the cable TV operator. However, many times, cable operators manage to access the blocked channel/s and relay it on some different set. For example, Hathway may use its “Local Cable 1”, “Local Cable 2” or “Local Cable 3” to relay the otherwise blocked channel. While some customers know about this practice, the same cannot be confirmed by the cable operators.
Hathway, on its part has made it clear that quality of its signal varies across locations. Here are the general parameters used by Hathway for cable TV relay service across its network...
Hathway says these parameters are achieved on its trunk and distribution network. “Performance of these parameters can vary from each STB location so much so that it can be different at two locations within the same household due to the nature of the internal cabling within the household. In such instances a Hathway technician or its local cable operator (LCO) will demonstrate the same at the tap off/splitter level that feeds the particular household that the parameters are met and the subscriber will then have to replace the internal cabling at his/her cost,” Hathway said on its site.
