Cable operators withdraw agitation

The private cable television operators have withdrawn their seven-day-long agitation on Sunday.

The Nepal Cable TV Association and Nepal Cable TV Association Struggle Committee reached a five-point understanding with the Ministry of Information and Communication, following which their strike has been withdrawn.

The cable operators have resumed operation of Nepal Television and other Nepali channels from Sunday evening itself.

As per their understanding, the government has agreed to change the National Broadcasting Rules to scrap 4 percent royalty imposed on cable operators. Likewise, the two sides also agreed to finalise a bill related with governing the cable sector. They also agreed to bring down renewal fees.

The cable operators had blocked Nepal Television and NTV-2 since August 13 and other national channels August 18. The association started the strike demanding the government fulfill their demands like decreasing their renewal fees, providing authority to broadcast local programmes, among others.

Earlier, Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) had urged the cable TV association to resolve the problem through dialogue and not block channels since that would be tantamount to violating people's right to free flow of information. nepalnews.com sd Aug 19 07