End of Road for Comet Cable?

This topic has been going round for ages, but now we are reaching the climax of the situation. Will Comet Cable (Ruhuna Multivision 2001) manage to solve its current problems? Will Comet ever go Digital? Will Comet subcribers ever know the truth about whats going on?

June 2007 is drawing nearer. Much too fast. Comet Cable subscribers (or at least who are left of them) are anxious to know what will happen. Last year, the TRC sent a letter to Comet Cable requesting to them to switch to a Satellite system or some other technology apart from Microwave broadcasting. This was because Comet's bandwidths are needed for SLT's WiMAX wireless internet system. The TRC threatened to take away Comet's license to broadcast if they would not switch by June 2007. This could have been done if there were not so many problems...

• Internal fights for leadership - these are now over, but have left scars on the face of the company
• Low customer base (and dropping further each day)
• Low finances
• Need to pay royalties to Southern Development Authority
• And therefore, the inability to transfer shares till royalties are payed
• Heavy competition from Dialog TV and LBN, for they all have better channel lineups
• Limited coverage of 50km aroung JAIC tower, Colombo (10km for best reception)
• Interference from other signals and even Microwave Ovens due to low quality "BBQ" grill
• Lasy useless staff in higher positions, and poor helpless customer service having to tell lies and get scolded
• Liers in higher positions of the company, trying to get the maximum out of whats left rather then keep going

How Comet will ever face these problems is a mighty question. Especially when nobody seems to be doing anything about it. The customers are helpless in this case, and this should not be the way of a proper service. Surely if Comet was doing something it would have leaked out by now. But all we get are false alerts from "Harrold" (real name should be Harold) and Scoobie.

At least the real Harold was nice enough to tell TV Radio Sri Lanka that he did not send those false messages. But E-Mails regarding other problems were not replied to.

So therefore, with Comet not revealing anything to its subscribers, we can come to a conclusion that this is the End of the Road for Comet Cable. The higher staff is just waiting to grab the money and escape. They are even asking for more ads on the channels to earn more. Its like a time-limited shopping spree. Get as much as you can before June 2007. Of course, the lower staff suffers and ultimately lose their jobs.

I express my deepest sorrow about this, and confess that throughout its lifetime, it was the pioneer of Sri Lankan Pay Television. It was also, so far, the only Pay TV operation to work non-stop, even though times of trouble, without any disturbances to the main broadcast. I guess they must have got used to it after a while. I hope that the customers go for alternatives LBN and Dialog TV and do not hold on for dear life on a sinking ship. Unless Comet springs up again...