CBNsat

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CBNsat is a digital television provider based in Sri Lanka. This company is a fully owned subsidary of Dialog Telekom. and was opened in July 2005. Its only other Sri Lankan competitior is Comet Cable (Ruhuna Multivision 2001), since the other competitor LBN is not operating at the moment. However, it is possible that the Sri Lankan market will soon be saturated by satellite broadcasters as there ar 28 applications for satellite broadcasting rights to the Sri Lankan Media Ministry.


Contents

[edit] Services

CBNsat currently provides 28 international TV channels and 6 local TV channels, plus 8 local radio channels. Channels are provided within 3 packages, each having 16 channels, 24 channels and 28 channels respectively. The first package costs RS.500, the second package costs RS.850, and the third package costs RS.1375.

CBNsat provides a 24 hour hotline service for customers. This customer service is greatly acclaimed for being probably one of the best in Sri Lanka, as the customer service providers were very helpful and were always available during times of need.

CBNsat also provides an online billing service named "MyCBNsat". MyCBNsat allows customers to pay bills online, view bills and customize the channels they want to watch. MyCBNsat requires a simple quick registration.


[edit] Channels

[edit] Television

May change with relaunch of service.

    • Rupavahini Corporation, a government owned media company, is suspected to be a force behind the CBNsat closure. However, as Rupavahini themselves are planning on a DTH broadcasting service, the channels Rupavahini and Channel Eye may not reappear on the CBNsat platform after its relaunch.

[edit] Radio

TNL FM , Light FM, Asura FM, Sun FM, Gold FM, Hiru FM, Sha FM & Suriyan FM


[edit] Infrastructure

CBNsat broadcasts using the DVB-S System through the EuroStar Satellite positioned at 45° East. KuBand Signals are received using a 60" diameter Alluminium Mini-Dish and a Sharp LNB. The LNB is connected to a COSHIP CDVB5110D SetTop Box. Irdeto Epsilon Cards are used to unlock encrypted signal.

The SetTop Box is also programmed to block Free-to-Air satellite channels.


[edit] Competition and Coverage

CBNsat is currently on a strong battle against the already existing Comet Cable (Ruhuna Multivision 2001)

CBNsat has coverage over the entire of Sri Lanka and even up to Nepal and neighbouring countries. CBNsat is available in Sri Lanka from any islandwide Singer showrooms.


[edit] Development and Expanditure

CBNsat expresses its hopes to soon expand their digital network to other neighbouring countries. Rumors say that there are already CBNsat customers in Maldives.

CBNSat signed an agreement with ESPN on 7 March 2006, and launched Star Sports and ESPN on 24 March 2006. Meanwhile CBNsat may also add Sun TV and the Zee Package on to the network within the next few months.


[edit] CBNsat Subscribers Unite

Due to the stoppage of transmission of CBNsat, a large group of CBNsat subscribers gathered together to form CBNsat Subscribers Unite in July 2006. The group works to spread the news about the CBNsat affairs, whilst also working hard to save CBNsat from unjustice and further turmoil. The group provide information on a blog dedicated to CBNsat Affairs.


[edit] Closure of CBNsat and halt of services for 6 months

[edit] The CID Raid

Transmission of CBNsat ceased on the evening of the 6th of June 2006 at approximately 9:30PM under orders of the CID (Sri Lanka Criminal Investigation Department). The following message was sent out to all subscribers via the satellite receiver: "We regret to inform you that due to unavoidable circumstances beyond the control of CBNsat our services will not be available temporarily. We are taking every possible measure to restore the services as soon as possible. Please bear with us."

This message preceded the following official statement from CBNsat which appeared in several Sri Lankan newspapers and is now visible on the CBNsat website: "Dear valued customer, as you may already know, CBNSat transmission has been halted by the CID and forces unknown to us. We have taken up this issue in courts and their verdict is currently pending. The events which took place on 6th June, 2006 had done immense injustice to us, our staff and to our valued customers. We apologies for the inconvenience caused by this circumstance which is beyond our control. We are trying our level best to overcome this hurdle and are confident you will be understanding and patient. Yours digitally, CBNSat."

[edit] The CID Investigation and Court Case

On the 9th of June 2006 The Daily News Sri Lanka reported that: "The sealing of the private satellite television station, CBN SAT by the CID was a sequel to a two month long investigation where several details had surfaced pointing to the operation of an illegal transmission service by CBN SAT."

The report goes on to state that while CBNsat was in possession of a valid vendor license (to sell and maintain satellite equipment) it did not have a license "to operate Satellite Video Up-Linking services to transmit Direct to Home (DTH) TV programmes.", thus violating section 17 (1) of the (Sri Lankan) Telecommunication Act No. 25 of 1991. The report states that CBNsat used a "licence issued to a sister company Sonic Network (Pvt). Ltd. for the specific purpose of operating an External Gateway for International Telecommunication (EGO) to operate a Satellite Video Up-linking service."

The EGO license was issued to Sonic Network (Pvt). Ltd. was limited to telecommunications operations and does not allow Video/Satellite transmission. The CID alleges that the agreement and joint operation between CBNsat and Sonic Network constitutes a telecommunications service, which was being carried out without a license, hence the investigation.

The Daily News report cannot be considered as fair since CBNsat was not an underground operation and heavily advertised on State and Private media. Daily News had carried CBNsat advertisements on many occasions. The Daily News which is a state newspaper has been known to carry out the dirty work on behalf of the government. The newspaper report is totally biased and does not reflect the true nature of the incidents.

CBNsat and the CID had both appeared in court to state their cases. A restraining order on operations was placed on CBNsat stopping transmissions till the 12th of June, 2006. This was further extended till the 19th of June pending further hearing. On the 19th the judge ordered the Media Ministry Additional Secretary to hand over a valid license on the 21st of June during the final hearing. At this hearing the Media Ministry has informed the court that the application for license (made in open court) is incomplete and further documents are required before a license may be granted. The time period stated by the Media Ministry was four weeks from application and was deemed too long by the presiding judge. At present the Media Ministry has been ordered to state their position on the licensing of CBNsat by the 28th of June 2006 or charges against the cable provider will be dropped.

Meanwhile CBNsat is hoping to sue each CID member who raided the premises on the 6th of June, as the CID team did not possess the correct warrant to stop their transmission.

Several other broadcasters have also come under investigation with LBN service being forced off-air almost two weeks after CBNsat's suspension.

[edit] Conspiracy Theories

Speculation on the internet and other media points to links between CBNsat and the LTTE organisation's NTT (National Television of Tamil Eelam) satellite television station as being the reason behind the initial CID investigation. However no proof of any collusion has been brought to publich attention and the NTT transmissions have continued uninterrupted in spite of the CBNsat closure. There is further speculation that the investigation was instigated by rival cable/satellite television (particularly SATNet, which is owned by a government official named Laksman Hullugalla) operators in a bid to boost their own sales. However, this investigation has caused all other cable/satellite television to come under investigation.

In addition it is said that the chairman of TV Lanka, Mr. B.A.C Abeywardena, also took part in the attempt to bring down CBNsat. In fact there was a report that he even offered to take over the management of CBNsat and LBN. It is also rumoured that the Maharaja Organisation has also taken part in the attempt to bring down CBNsat due to loss of viewership on their channels such as Channel One MTV. None of the Maharaja Channels are available via CBNsat.

[edit] Fashion TV, LTTE fears brought up by Government Officials

CBNsat subscribers had a long wait to get the transmission as company officials grapple with government authorities over issues ranging from the wrong licence, fears of LTTE programmes and transmission of Fashion TV.

The company has taken the CID to court in an attempt to lift the seal imposed on them. However, officials say, the case has been dragging on as the authorities have been raising different issues against CBNsat. The initial allegation was that the company had brought in the equipment without proper approval or licenses and that the company did not have broadcasting licenses under the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation Act for which the company provided proper legal documents and the licenses obtained from the TRC (Telecommunications Regulatory Commission).

Further the company has also argued that the Act is not applicable, however they have applied for this license as well with the hope of resuming transmission as soon as possible.

Now the authorities have brought on another issue regarding the fact that the transmission includes Fashion TV whereas other cable companies who are still on air transmit this channel without any censorship. 'Why have we been singled out,' asked Dilani Nandasiri, CBN's Legal Manager. The authorities had not stated why they were objecting to Fashion TV but TV viewers said it's possibly because often models could be seen scantily dressed, with more clothes off than on!

The authorities have also brought in a security issue saying that the LTTE could have access to CBNSat's transmission and transmit their channel through CBNsat.

The government has also agued that the fact that the LTTE has bought capacity in the same satellite that CBNsat has bought space for their transmission purposes, is highly suspicious.

However Nandasiri told The Sunday Financial Times that despite CBNsat offering to take Fashion TV off transmission and let any governmental authority monitor their transmission 24 hours-a-day the authorities have still refused to issue them even a temporary license to transmit.

The Media Ministry has told courts that the existing Act is outdated and that it does not cover current issues. Thus the ministry has said they will have to revise the Act first before issuing any licenses to the applicants which would take about three more months. However some other similar service providers are still in operation even though the ministry has refused to issue a temporary license to CBNsat till the act is revised.

The ban has cost the company huge financial losses not only in terms of revenue but also in terms of marketing. 'We have incurred huge costs as we have invested hugely on our marketing and brand name and we do not want to penalize our staff so we are incurring overheads costs as well,' said Nandasiri, adding she also raised issues about the way they were treated regardless of the fact that they are a BOI company.

Nandasiri said that they appreciate the fact that their customers have stood by them and said that they will not shut down. 'We will resume transmission but we cannot say when as it is completely out of our hands.'

[edit] First sign of hope

The chief justice announced on 3rd August 2006 that CBNsat should be allowed to begin test transmission and then normal transmissions under a temporary license. CBNsat hopes that the now unsealed hardware can be updated and re-configured by or before the 23rd of August to restart the main service. However, the media ministry, on 23rd August 2006, asked the court to allow them to obtain a security pass from the Ministry of Defense (MoD) before issuing the license. The court ordered the MoD to reply to the security concern by 4th September 2006.

On 4th September, the MoD replied that they would require a further 2 weeks to process their security check. Therefore the case was postphoned to 18th September 2006.

On 18th September the Supreme Court hearing was postponed to November 6th 2006 since Defense Ministry was still evaluating the application for clearance. The lawyers representing CBNsat requested court to allow them to broadcast via any other operator who has been granted the necessary licenses. Since SLRC the state channel and SLT are said to have obtained the license CBNsat is planning to sign a commercial agreement with them to restore transmissions. If they fail this then CBNsat can approach anyone of the 26 applicants who may be granted licenses and then come to an agreement with them. CBNsat says that they do not have to wait till Nov 6th since if they get into agreement with any other operator then CBNsat will e able to operate till they obtain their license.


[edit] CBNsat permitted to recommence transmissions

In the Supreme Court, counsel appearing for the petitioner SonicNet Technologies (Pvt) Ltd. stated it possessed the necessary licence under section 17 of the Telecommunication Act for the purpose of satellite transmission of the CBNSat service.

The Supreme Court bench, comprised of Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, Supreme Court Justice Nimal G. Amarathunga, and Supreme Court Justice Saleem Marsoof, permitted CBNSat to immediately re-commence the service which was halted due to the seizure of the transmission equipment on 6th June 2006.

The management of CBNSat considers this as a long-awaited victory for the rights of all stakeholders, mainly its customers, employees and the financial institutions.

CBNSat engineers are currently coordinating calibration of the earth station with the satellite and configuring the transmission parameters and expect the transmission to recommence soon.

These events pulled a close to the six-month long fight to clear the CBNSat name and proved that all allegations made against CBNSat were completely false and baseless. In addition, the Supreme Court further stated that the petitioner is not to be harassed further.

A heavy debt was incurred by the Company in continuing to honour its commitments and meeting its financial obligations to the best of its ability. Therefore, in order to enable CBNSat to achieve its future growth potential, a share purchase agreement was entered into with Asset Media (Pvt) Ltd., a subsidiary of Dialog Telekom Limited. This was done in the interests of the CBNSat stakeholders, mainly its valued customers, to ensure that they continue to receive the best infotainment possible, now and in the future.

The Management of CBNSat is extremely grateful for the support given by its stakeholders, including the CBNSat Subscriber Unite group and all parties whose patience and understanding was vital.

Meanwhile, the company would be taken over by Asset Media Ltd. of Dialog Telekom, as the company was financially crippled. This was a great bargain for Dialog Telekom as they received the equipment, licenses and customer base of 25,000 for around Rs. 500 million. Else Dialog would have had to spend twice as much to start their own service.


[edit] Current status

As of December 11th, 2006, CBNsat was carrying out public test transmissions. The first transponder was enabled, providing about 10 different channels which changed each day as the company was testing the system. Soon the second transponder would be enabled and the service would be fully relaunched. Heavy marketing campaigns are expected to promote sale of new connections during the Christmas season. The connections are expected to sell well, as they are cheap and have been made famous by the baseless fight between the government and CBNsat.


[edit] Related links

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