Nearly 1.5 million customers still don’t know why they have lost access to six dozen TV channels for the past two weeks, even though they have paid for them in advance.

The channel distributors have blamed the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology for not recommending the foreign exchange facility to the Nepal Rastra Bank, while the ministry says no distributors have applied for it.

Seventy-two channels under Sony, Star, Zee, and iCast banners have been off the air since August 1.

The ministry said that the Nepali channel distributors hadn’t paid the Indian broadcaster for a year and a half, and the dues could amount to Rs1 billion. As a result, the Indian broadcaster has stopped channel distribution to Nepal.

However, the Nepali channel distributors have raised all the money from Nepali customers in advance, and consumer rights activists say they have to compensate.

Sudip Acharya, managing director of Dish Media Network, the operator of DishHome, a DTH and internet service provider in Nepal, said they had paid the Nepali distributors in advance after raising money from customers.

“Now, we are under pressure from the customers. We are asking the distributors to return our payment.”

An official of WorldLink Communications, Nepal’s largest internet service provider, said the issue could not be solved during the tenure of former communication minister Rekha Sharma and there are no signs of a solution anytime soon.

There are seven local distributors.

NETTV, one of the operators with 1.3 million customers, posted a message on its website: “Due to unexpected reasons, Indian Premium and International channels are currently deactivated, and they will be resumed soon. We will inform you as soon as the channels are restored.”

Manish Singh, CEO of DMB Holdings, distributor of Star and Zee networks, said they had sent the details of the bill to the ministry in June, which includes recommendations for the foreign exchange facility from October 2023 to June 2024. “We don’t know why the ministry is dithering,” Singh said.

“I have been making rounds at the ministry, but the officials are confused even though we have made full compliance with the à la carte system. The government imposed the rules in haste, and it is itself in a dilemma now,” he added.

Most distributors, government officials, and internet service providers say that service will resume soon, but no one knows when.

One official told the Post that the problem could linger.

“We are in the process of solving the issue,” said Subodh Nepal, director of the Department of Information and Broadcasting.

Even though the à la carte system, which allows viewers to pick the channels they want to watch and only pay for them, was implemented a year ago, Nepal said it took time for operators and broadcasters to fully implement it.

Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation, a unified representative body of TV broadcasters and over-the-top platforms in India, cut the channel service in Nepal on August 1 due to non-payment of service dues.

Nepal said there had been a dispute over payment between the government and broadcasters before as well as after the implementation of the à la carte system.

The service providers usually apply to the department for payment, and the ministry recommends the foreign exchange facility.

Officials said the local distributors created the problem, and they are not showing any interest in clearing the dues, as barely one or two distributors have come for the recommendation.

The ministry has formed an informal committee to look into the issue and determine the exact dues that the distributors must pay.

Gajendra Kumar Thakur, spokesperson for the communication ministry, said that despite collecting advance payments from customers, the distributors have not paid the broadcaster for over a year.

“We will recommend the payment for any distributor who applies for the payment to the broadcaster,” Thakur said.

In August last year, the communication ministry formally implemented the “pick-and-pay” option for Nepali television viewers.

This allows viewers to watch their favourite channels and pay only for those rather than the whole package that includes channels they rarely watch. To cover carrying costs, the ministry of communications has fixed a minimum monthly fee of Rs250 per customer for cable television.

It used to cost a customer around Rs1,000 a month to subscribe to the channels, but with the implementation of the à la carte system, it will cost no more than Rs470 a month even if the customer subscribes to all the channels, Thakur said.

A total of 32 channels are broadcast under Star India, 21 under Sony Pictures, 15 under Indiacast Media Distribution, 10 under ZEE Entertainment, 14 under Discovery Network Asia Pacific, 5 under HBO, 1 under BBC Studio Distribution and 2 under channels under Bennet Coleman and Company.

The cable operators can customise channels under the à la carte system and submit them for approval.

Currently, TV channels are broadcast in Nepal through direct-to-home, multiple-system operators, multichannel multipoint distribution services, internet protocol television, and digital terrestrial television, among other methods.

Consumer rights activists say that collecting payment in advance and depriving people of services is cheating and against the law.