TVs may go on the blink this monsoon

bad
reception

People in the island city may have to switch off their TV sets as the rains set in because of signal distortions.

The Conditional Access System (CAS) was made mandatory in the island city from January 1. Subscribers had two options — that of buying a set top box (STB) from their regular cable operators or changing to a direct-to-home (DTH) operators.

The STBs provided by DTH operators come with a dish that is installed outside the house. But the functioning of the dish could go for a toss during bad weather.

Several among the DTH subscribers from the island city faced such a problem twice this month when there was rain along with thunder and lightning. “The signals went off as soon as there was thunder and lightening and it remained like that for almost 30 minutes.
I missed the daily 9.30 pm serial on my favourite channel,” said Shalini Vaidya a resident of Malabar Hill.

Cable service through a dish antenna is an established concept in the US, Brazil, Australia, and Japan, which experience heavy rainfall.

“As the dish installed outside the house catches rays from the satellite it is bound to get affected if there is a huge cloud cover accompanied by thunder and lightening,” said Vikram Mehra, head of consumer marketing of TATA Sky. “We are working towards ensuring that our consumers do not face this problem during the monsoon. Our engineers are doing pre-monsoon checks to ensure that signals are received properly.”