LCO to cut News channels to oppose Entertainment tax

After Kolkata now Mumbai LCOs have planned to fight the unfair system of cable digitalisation in which subscriptions have gone up two to three tunes but most is being paid as taxes.

Starting July 15th the cable operators have warned to switch off the news channels in and around Mumbai. They want the state to reduce the entertainment tax from the existing Rs 45 per month per consumer to Rs.15 or face closure of news channels during the state legislature's monsoon session which begins on July 15. 

Anil Parab, MLC and president of Cable Operators and Distributors Association (CODA) says,“ most cable operators and distributors are upset as they are paying three times more the entertainment tax than their counterparts in other states. Even if the tax is revised to Rs 15, the tax collection will be much more than the present if one considers the recent 95% digitalization in Mumbai and the viewers will also benefit the most.

In their presentation to revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat, Maharashtra Navanirman Cable Sena leaders had pointed out that the entertainment tax collection would go up by Rs 2.08 crore per month even if the tax was reduced. Thus there can be an increase of Rs24 crore annually over the existing Rs34 crore, opened the operators.

In Nasik two MSOs and operators are feeling the heat of pay entertainment tax to the administration. Cable operators in the district owe the administration Rs 2.18 crore of entertainment duty since April this year.

The LCOs said. "We have made it clear that the entertainment tax duty should be rationalized at the rate of Rs 15 to Rs 25 as it is in other states. The current charge of Rs 45 is too high for many consumers. Besides, the MSOs should announce what is the amount they are going to charge the LCOs. Packages have still not been announced".

LCO’s cleared the entertainment duty till March 31, the same for the next three months - till June 2013 has not been paid and the administration is preparing to take action against the operators. There is a confusion as to who should pay the tax. However administration is clear that MSOs must pay the tax. MSOs blame the operators for not collecting the tax from subscribers.

Nilesh Jadhav, Deputy Collector said, "The government has made it clear that the tax should be collected from MSOs. We have been following up the matter with the operators. The MSOs claimed that the LCOs were not cooperating, while the latter maintained that the tax should be reduced. We have decided to hold a meeting of the MSOs and the LCOs to sort out the tax issue on July 8th.”

Pre digitization the total subscriber recorded by LCO’s stood at 53,000 and post digitization, the STB’s installed with unique identity for each box revealed that Nashik city had 1.62 lakh customers. 

Jadhav agreed that the issue about package announcement by MSOs is genuine but that does not mean that the subscriber money is not being collected. Come what may, the entertainment duty cannot be withheld, the official said.

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/digitization-news/item/2736-lco-to-cut-news-channels-to-oppose-entertainment-tax.htmlSource: http://cablequest.org/news/digitization-news/item/2736-lco-to-cut-news-channels-to-oppose-entertainment-tax.html