By Team Mangalorean - Bangalore

Bangalore, October 17, 2007: Bangaloreans are in for a rude shock as a total channel black out is on the cards. The Zee Turner Ltd., the company that reserves rights over distribution of 34 key channels, has warned to cut off its network following the non payment of some distributors and multi private channel operators.

Some of the channels that are going to be affected include, according to preliminary reports are Zee Kannada, Zee TV, Cartoon Network, Pogo, HBO, CNBC TV 18, Zee Café, Zee Studio, Zee Cinema and 25 other channels.

A release from the Zee Turner stated that the multi-system operator (MSO) at Bangalore had built up an outstanding sum of Rs. 1.18 crores.

The Zee Turner company has also stated that the MSO was "under declaring" its subscriber base by 81 per cent and keeping the company in darkness. The MSO had allegedly declared a portion of his total subscribers which amounts to 19 per cent of the 1.5 lakh subscribers.

The release said "Further it (the MSO) has declared its subscriber base of more than 75,000 subscribers to other competitive broadcasters whereas it has executed the agreement with Zee turner with a meager subscriber base of 29,000 only," which was nothing but unfair trade practice and was an effort to usurp profits.

According to the statistics provided by the company the Zee Turner currently has a countrywide network of over 100 dealers and 14 regional offices. Headquartered in New Delhi, Zee Turner was incorporated in February 2002, when Zee Entertainment Ltd. & Turner International India Pvt. Ltd.  joined hands to form a distribution joint venture. Zee Turner manages distribution and trade marketing for Zee, Turner as well as third party channels such as CNBC and Reality TV, in India and Nepal.

The corporate dossier of the company says it had a bouquet of channels also include Zee News, Zee Trendz, Zee Marathi, Zee Gujarati, Zee Punjabi, Zee Bangla, CNN, Reality, Awaaz, POGO, Zee Business, Zee Premier, Zee Classic, Zee Action, Zee Sports, Zee Telugu, Zee Talkies, Play TV, ETC Punjabi, ETC, Zee Music, Zee Jagran, Zee Smile, 24Ghante, 24 Taas and Zee Jagran.