A few city subscribers have started to shift from local cable operators to DTH platforms, saying their preferred channels had gone off TV sets.

Their contention: channels chosen in the new cable tariff regime are not activated on their connections.

Almost every cable operator in Bengal has lost subscribers to DTH platforms in the past few weeks, according to cable operators’ unions. In some cases, the percentage of migration is 25-30 per cent.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has made it mandatory for cable and DTH subscribers to choose channels and pay for them.

The web portals of multi-system operators could not take the pressure of hits when cable operators tried to migrate subscribers to new packages and started to malfunction, delaying the process.

Some subscribers who have shifted to DTH platforms said they had given cable operators a “fair chance” to provide them with the channels they had opted for.

“I had a HD (high definition) connection but all pay channels suddenly went off despite me choosing a HD pack well in advance,” Sudipan Maity, a resident of Kalikapur, said. “I waited for 40 days before going for Tata Sky.”

Tushar Kanti Pal from New Town said he had been getting only pay channels for 15 days, after which he decided to go for Airtel Digital TV.

“Almost every cable operator is Calcutta and the rest of Bengal has lost subscribers to DTH platforms. This is happening because the portals of multi-system operators are still not working properly,” Shankar Mondal, president of the Biswas Bangla Cable TV Operators’ Union, said.

Mondal, who is an operator in Sonapur, said 25 per cent of his subscribers had shifted to DTH platforms.