Australia Network and English Music

In November 2012, Act Cable TV suddenly stopped Australia Network. After following up with them what they said that they were following "Indian Govt. direction" and they blocked the channel. I also observed they blocked QTV (Pakistan), Peace TV, RTV (Russia) but they were continuing showing DWtv (German), TV5-Monde(French), CCTV (China), NHK World(Japan). I could tolerate them no more.
When digitization of Cable Tv happened in Bengaluru (March 31,2013) there was a few days delay and I had a choice whether to go for a second connection again. IPL was also starting and two connections would be better for uninterrupted viewing at home (so I thought). The cost for 1 connection was 340 and cost for two connection was 560. Also fitting charge for new box would be 1500. Thus my yearly cost would swell from (340*12=)4080 to {1500+(560*12=6720)=}8220. I had even placed an order for a second box (without doing the calculation). But when ACT TV did a one day delay, I went online and placed order for Videocon D2H which cost me 5800 for 1 year. Now I have only one (D2H) connection and myself and my wife adjust ourselves and watch it at turns.
IPL also this year I am watching through highlights on youtube (mostly). Last year (2012) there was a craze and I used to try to watch every match. We also had two connections. The second connection was only terminated in June 2012.
Thus what I am saying stoppage of Australia Network was reason enough for me to become firm in abandoning my old address once (early 2011) and going for D2H in the next (April 2013). Already I had stopped TV watching during my SAP Certification preparation. After one failed attempt in August 31 2012, I doubled my efforts and qualified on October 17 2012. Then we had a small trip to Shirdi and Mumbai and then returned to Bengaluru October end. But from Nov beginning Australia network was blocked. I was devastated.
Let me go back to 1999 for Western music discussion. I was at Mumbai and then I bought a CD player. Actually it was CD cum cassette cum Radio player. Along with the Player, I got a few free CD's as well. It was my first experience with audio CD's. As a child I had only seen Records, audio cassettes and MW (Medium Wave) and SW(Short Wave) radio. FM radio also I first experienced it in Mumbai. As original Audio CD's were way to expensive, I bought several audio cassettes. Prominent English ones like Duran Duran, Matrix soundtrack, Boyzone to name a few. I used to listen to those. Then by the end of 1999, I had handed over that CD player to my dad and he took it to Bhubaneswar. That CD player gathered dust in Bhubaneswar till about 2006-07 when I got it to Bengaluru. Now it is gathering dust in Bengaluru as I am not using it and kept it in cold storage. Actually, the thing is we do not listen to much FM radio at home now except probably when we are driving the car.
In 2000, I requested my father to bring old two in one. Remember the red one I had discussed about earlier in another post. He brought it from Bhubaneswar to Mumbai. At Mumbai I had read about 'exchange scheme' and I got the two in one exchanged for a brand new two in one. The new two in one did not have CD player and I did not use the cassette player much.
But I had become a fan of FM radio. And Mumbai FM radio was good at that time(1999-2001). There was a lot of Western music. While on the move (either on local train or bike) I used to listen using walkman. The walkman was also a two in one but only used the radio as I knew from experience that if we get a content which is controlled elsewhere we have a lot more choice. Variety of music was available on radio. We cannot have hundreds of cassettes but the radio station may have and it can play those. Also I came to know that battery consumption was more when listening to audio cassettes. It was common sense actually. A cassette has to move to play songs. Radio is much simpler. Even now we can see that battery consumption is lesser while we listen to FM radio on mobile compared to when we play MP3 tracks (though mobile has no moving parts).
-Will continue later-
Now today I watched "Dus Kahaniyan". Small small stories made the approximately 2 hour long movie.
Watched it on D2H and I liked it.

English Music Quest

The good thing about both MTV and Channel V from 2002 till 2006 was that they used to show only English music at night/late night. And that programming during 2002-2006 was excellent according to me. Probably some westerner had decided for the same. Now, post late 2006 Indians decide what songs to be shown and it *cks. It *cks so much that I have stopped watching those Indian music channels. I even consider 9XO and VH1 India as "Indian channels".
While I was at Chennai 2002-03, I used to watch music but not on Tv. I used to watch in Yahoo Music on the internet in cyber cafes. And according to me it was great. It was great because the content was controlled from abroad and not India. In Bengaluru, the trend of watching on the net continued and I accessed blastro, youtube, NRJ, dailymotion and the like to watch music videos.
In Bengaluru, post 2007, I came across a program called "Rage" on Australia Network channel. Actually in November 2006, I made a trip to Chennai and stayed at a place where I had stayed during 2003. The place was totally renovated. What earlier was a dilapidated place was in 2006 a centrally air conditioned hotel with TV in every room. I went by bike to Chennai and stayed for a night. Morning I got up and flipped through the channels and I came across Rage on Australia network.
Initially in 2007, in Bengaluru our cable operator did not show Australia Network. Later he showed and I regularly watched rage. I even used to record the Rage program using TV Tuner. Once my laptop crashed while setting up the TV tuner and that made me to purchase desktop in May 2008. When BBC was blocked on cable, I fitted Dish Tv. But since there was no Australia Network on Dish TV , I got cable fitted along with Dish TV cable in August 2008.
It continued. Our cable operator at old address in Bengaluru also gave a 'digital set top box' and I got Australia Network through that. In December 2010, our cable operator blocked Australia Network for reasons unknown. Since we were soon to shift to new place I did not work with him and returned the set top box. In February 2011, we shifted to new place in Bengaluru. Our cable operator at new place did show Australia Network.
-Will continue above later-
Meanwhile today I have watched 2 movies. Both movies on Videocon D2H.
First movie "Mumbai Salsa". Too good movie. Shows relationships ultra-modern style.
Second movie "Agent Vinod". It is Illuminati movies. Like the banner of the same name it definitely looks like it is made by the Illuminati. There is a small Illuminati in the movie as well. "Illuminati" in the sense, they want the movie made in a certain way so that their view is perpetuated.

Channel [V] International and MCM

In Mumbai, like had discussed our cable operator 7 Star Network had a 'analog set top box offering'. In that box we used to get 7-8 channels which were kind of 'premium' channels and those were not available over the 'normal network'. One of those channels was "Channel V International". It was one of the best channels I came across and I fully enjoyed it from 1998 May till November 2001 when I shifted to new place in Mumbai. Channel V International was 'truly international' and only western music (English) was shown in that. Since the programming was done from Singapore and Hong Kong for international audience  it was of extremely high quality. Not like "Indian Channel V". Indian Channel V *ked big time. It was nowhere watchable and I could stand watching it. Channel V International was the channel for me. That proved to be my undoing because I never across Channel V International ever in my life again. I lost it forever along with my old address in Mumbai.
Meanwhile MTV had no corresponding "international MTV". It was showing a mix of Indian and Western music. In addition to MTV and Channel V, I came across another Channel in Mumbai. It was MCM. French Music Channel MCM was one of the best. God how I missed it. In my new address in Mumbai in early 2002, they were showing MCM initially but later they stopped it. When I checked with the cable operator, its name was Sai Star Network, they told that the channel is blocked from satellite. But I never saw MCM in Mumbai again. A fleeting glimpse of MCM I got in Bengaluru when I came for 2-3 days in 2002 November. After that like Channel V International, I have never seen MCM again though I have searched for the channel in the internet and found it at times and watched through streaming option. The good thing about MCM was that it showed uncensored music videos and kept the 'human spirit' alive.
Meanwhile Channel V and MTV continued to show a mix of Hindi film music and English music videos till about 2006-07 when they became "truly Indian". New Channel VH1 came in but it was not upto the mark. Programming was horrible. Proabably some Indian lady or old lady was given charge of the programming and it *ked big time.
The main feature of VH1 was that it used to show mostly old videos and videos which were a decade old. New videos which it showed used to be censored and Western lady pop stars and young male pop stars were totally getting ignored. Even now in Videocon D2H, I am getting only VH1 and 9XO. And according to me both the programming *ks big time.
-To be continued-

MTV Transformation to "Indian"

We also used to listen to Radio. Vividh Bharati channel which was broadcasted from nearby City of Cuttack uses to give latest songs in the mornings.
Also in my earlier posts I forgot to mention one thing and rather than editing earlier post I would like to mention it here. Before Cable Tv came in and the age of terrestrial transmission, during late 80's, in our town we used to get the signal of channel from Dhaka. Yes we could get the signal and folks at school would discuss about it. Most of the programming in Dhaka channel was of foreign (read Western) origin. Cable TV made it redundant.
When MTV came and then separated ways with Star Tv, it got into tie up with Doordarshan and in Second DD channel (known as DD Metro), it used to be shown in the evening for 2 hours and night 2 hours something like that. DD Metro also used to show some "Europop" show late at night. It was particularly useful for me because as I had mentioned earlier, our parents used to disconnect the cable connection frequently especially when exams were close as it might interrupt the education of kids i.e.us. Present situation of Doordarshan is that they have totally abandoned 'foreign programming' and have become 110% Indian.
When Channel V began initially I remember it used to show Indian music for sometime and then show Chinese music (and Taiwanese music). What might have happened at that time satellite might be in short supply maybe a problem with transponders or something and it had to be shared between the territories. But slowly, that problem disappeared and Indian Channel V became pure "Indian Channel V".
Also MTV and Channel V both were initially hesitant to show Hindi film music. I don't know which jumped into the bandwagon first. I think it was Channel V. Initially what might have happened that Hindi film industry would have bought advertisement slots in Channel V. Then seeing their popularity, programming would have increased. Then MTV would have followed suit. I remember MTV used to show some like Japanese Hentai cartoons in  1997. Then once they started showing Hindi film music there was no turning back. Programming went to increasing to the point it is today.
Meanwhile I shifted to Hyderabad and stayed in hostel kind of situation. I had a walkman and radio as well. I used to listen to Western music program broadcast on Short Wave late at night on All India Radio.
Bought some cassettes as well. Then in 1998, I shifted to Mumbai (earlier Bombay).
To be continued.

Western Music

I am really interested in Western Music. But our environment shapes us. And we have very little control on our environment. From 1977 when I was born till 1982 I was at Bombay (now Mumbai) and we used to make up and down trips from our native place is Orissa (now Odisha). After 1982 we shifted to Bhubaneswar i.e. state capital of Odisha.
In Bombay (late 70's) my parents had purchased a Record Player and several Records as well and it was at Bhubaneswar and gathered dust. Meanwhile technology changed in early 1980's itself and began the age of audio cassettes. We had purchased initially a flat audio cassette player. We bought a lot of audio cassettes as well. My father also purchased a car and with car soon came the cassette player in car. And during up and down trips from my grandparents place at Berhampur we used to listen to cassettes.
In late 80's my father bought a two-in-one as well. It was Philips model and red color; the flat one was also Philips make and Silver color. During the 80's we also used to listen to song program on TV (Doordarshan was the only channel) mainly "Chitrahaar". The audio cassettes we purchased were mostly Hindi audio and latest movies of that time. Though we did purchase a few English ones.
From early 90's onwards, I got more aware of my environment and was exposed to Cable TV. Cable TV ushered in the age of MTV. MTV was Music Television. Programming was 100% American initially and then Indipop also came in. In 1995-96, Channel V was formed as an offshoot of Star TV. MTV and Star TV parted ways and following that Star TV launched their own music channel.
I used to think Music means a lot like Classical, Jazz, Hindustani, Carnatic, etc. But MTV changed that perception. MTV made me realize that music was Pop, Rock, Metal, Hard Rock, rap, etc.
Meanwhile I got Record player repaired in early 1990's and used it along with a speaker and box (known as deck). It was bulky. Compared to present MP3 players and all, there was plenty of moving parts both in Record player and Audio cassettes.
I threw a lot of cassettes most often I dumped them on the side of the road. Similarly  I have thrown all the video cassettes which we had. At present we do not have any video cassettes though in my native place there would be a few audio cassettes lying around. Often "reel" in the cassettes would snap and then I used to remove the cassettes using screw divers and in case of video cassettes used to joint the reels with "quickfix" a glue. And in case of audio cassettes I used to join the reel straight into the plastic clamp.
To be Continued

Satellite Link

I had written in my earlier post about how I was after the link to satellite through dish antenna. It is actually not feasible for a person like me to possess 8-12 ft antenna. Tanks to technology antenna size got reduced to 60 cms and presently that is what I have for Videocon D2H. I was initially hesitant to fix the antenna because our managing committee in our building were taking steps to get a common antenna fixed. But last year elections happened and managing committee changed and so new committee decided against fixing common antenna as the Dish operators were not giving any discounts.
So this April I fitted my own dish for D2H on the roof. As our balcony and flat faces north west, it is not possible for the line of sight to be got.
Earlier, there was Worldspace radio and it was my satellite link. I took Worldspace Connection around September 2001 in Juhu in Mumbai. At that time probably I read about the ad in newspaper and I bought it from an electronics showroom. The technician came and gave demo. He also fitted an antenna. That antenna was like the earlier terrestrial antenna of Doordarshan but it was only smaller. He probably wanted some extra billing and so he fitted the antenna as the standard antenna coming with Worldspace could receive the signal provide it is pointed in the right direction (south east once more).
When Worldspace shut its shop on December 2009, I lost the subscription money. I had paid for renewal in probably October or November 2009. Worldspace was good. In the several years I used, I had exchanged the receiver twice and bought it twice. Which means that I had four different kind of receivers.
Initially upto 2004 the service was free at least I could get all channels in my receiver. The first receiver was heavy with FM radio and speaker. It was Hitachi make. It cost excess of 5000. After it failed I threw it away probably in 2004 (but whether in Bengaluru or Bhubaneswar I can't remember, I think I brought it to Bengaluru and threw it away).
Then in Bengaluru in 2004, I got a new receiver (BPL Sanyo make) and it was subscription based now. This receiver had speaker and was shaped like a 'two in one' but it did not have FM radio. I think I used it till 2005 and then exchanged it. The new one was again BPL Sanyo make. That receiver had metal casing and no speaker but it had AV socket connection. It was a small rectangular box shaped.
That I exchanged later around early 2006 (again BPL Sanyo model) which I used till 2009. It was fiber based and needed speaker connection through AV socket. It was still smaller one and lightest of all the models I ever had. And after the shut down, I threw the remaining equipment away.
Now, we have Internet radio which is far more greater than Worldspace and it does not need satellite. We can use mobile network for the same. More about that later.
Now, I watched two more movies. "Aatma". This is 2005 horror movie By Ramsay brothers I watched on youtube. Highly recommended. It is worth noting that movies which are not that famous are equally good if not better that bigger hit movies.
Next movie is "Chandni Chowk to China". Yes people this movie I watched for the first time today and that too on Videocon D2H. I liked it.

Cable TV to DTH Movement

By the time I landed in Bhubaneswar in 2003, Ortel had literally finished all the competition it had. Even all small Cable operators had ceased to exist. Ortel was the only Cable TV supplier in Bhubaneswar. Ok for a second lets leave Bhubaneswar and come to Bengaluru in 2005, I bough Dish Antenna, first a 60 cm one and then a 110 cm one.
Technology had changed in a decade. No longer did people require 8-12 ft dish antennas. Though big cable operators continued to have them. Small 60 cms dish was enough to get signals from satellite using KU band. The extra large dish antennas used C-Band. Also signal had changed from Analog to Digital.
But the reason for my fitting of the antenna was not met. There was no "Spice TV or Blue Spice TV" available, if you know what I mean. One guy even came and fitted the 110 cm dish but both were the same satellite. It was NSS-6 and all DD Direct Channels were in that satellite. Later, DD Direct went to Insat Satellite and Dish Tv is still with NSS-6. (I have stopped researching those).
Then I left the hostel in 2006, actually we were asked to vacate. My hostel was at National Games Village at Koramangala. It was a 7th floor flat. So I took the Dish antenna with me to my new own house and there it was kept as showpiece in the rack. The bigger 110 cm found space in the balcony.
Then in 2007, I had urge to refit the Dish antenna and it was not for the 'Spice' channels but for Oriya channel. I knew Doordarshan which earlier could manage only 1 or 2 channel expanded to 30-35 channels post DTH-Ditect to Home through satellite. There was channel for each language and region. I had fitted the antenna outside my balcony but the Society protested that the building would look ugly and so I got it fitted in the rooftop. Our building did not have roof. It had tiles and roof was kind of slanted. But there was a little walkway around those tiles and the antenna was fitted over there.
Later in 2008 August, I fitted Dish Tv in my flat but it was not my own antenna but our building had a common antenna and we were linked to that. Initially the person removed the cable and fitted the Dish TV but upon my insistence he came on  Sunday and brought both Cable and Dish Tv wires through the duct.
Meanwhile, the bigger dish, i went to JC Road (from where I had bought it) and left it out there in the open for someone to scavenge it. I did not sell it.
Later, probably in 2010, I removed the antenna I had fitted in the roof and the cable which was just hanging(there was no duct) and threw those away. Actually, one watchman took it. But I did not give the receiver. The Receiver was of Beetle make and it was good to receive Free To Air Channels.
That Receiver I threw away when I shifted in new and present house at Bengaluru. The garbage cleaning people took those away aftyer checking with us if we had "really kept it".
When we shifted house in Bengaluru in 2011, I left the Dish TV connection at old residence. It was there, the box, for a long time. But in maybe 2012-13, I threw that box away. And this month i.e. May 2013, I called up Dish TV people and told them that my account may be removed permanently from their database.
In our new house we had ACT TV, a cable TV for a long time. Later we even took two connections.
In June 2012, I cancelled one connection.
In April 2013, I cancelled the remaining connection and have taken Videocon D2H. I checked with him if two cables can come through the duct. The Act TV guy said that since the duct is too narrow, two cables would not come and thus now I have only Videocon D2H and I can watch whatever is being offered by them.
For one they are showing 7-8 Odia channels. Act TV gave 3 channels and Dish TV (at that time 2011) had 4 and DD Direct plus one channel only and our Cable TV at old house had one.