Mumbai : Going against the state-wide trend of decline in cable television services in Maharashtra, the Kolhapur district has reported higher number of people opting for cable services than direct-to-home (DTH). Service providers said personal communication with customers has played an important role in continuing demand for cable services.
For the last two years, the number of DTH users has been on a decline while the number of people using cable services has gone up. This fiscal, the district has reported 47,331 DTH users against the 53,293 users in 2014. The district had 54,415 DTH users registered in 2013.
DTH users have to navigate through customer care numbers in case of any queries or complaints instead of the direct connect with cable operators. Customers prefer to call their cable operator to seek immediate solution in case of disruption of service or telecasting problems.
Sujit Patil, an expert in the DTH business, said cable operators have started providing set top box. The same person offers after sales services as well. Hence, there is a personal communication and bond with the customers.
The second factor is the payment of the bills. The local cable service provider can offer some relaxation to make the payment unlike the DTH operators.
Yashoraj Patil, head of operations of B News, a local cable operator, said, “The cost to the service plays a major role in this business. The cable service charges are much lower than that of DTH services and the customer base in Kolhapur is chiefly looking for economical service, rather than quality channels which are mostly in non-Marathi language.”
He added, “The DTH customers in the district are either elite or non-Marathi communities. They have an option of selecting the channels from their preferred language.”
Vinayak Dhawde, a cable customer, said, “I always find cable service more reliable. I can contact them if I have any query with the particular channel or service. They are more efficient. With the DTH operators, waiting on phone line is time consuming.”
