Neo Sports Plus from February 2nd

Sports fans are in for a treat when LBN which recently launched Neo Sports is expected to launch Neo Sports Plus from Feb 2nd according to sources. We have confirmed that Neo Sports Plus will be launching but at the moment the date stands as 2nd Feb 2007 but it may change.

Neo Sports is a full cricket channel whereas Neo Sports Plus will concentrate on non cricket related sports. Neo Sports is operated by Nimbus Communications. Neo Sports and Neo Sports Plus are just two of Nimbus Communications plans for three channels, the third is called Neo Sports News which is expected to go on air during this year.

Neo Sports is presently India's number one sports channel largely due to the fact that it is a dedicated cricket channel. They also have agreements with the BCCI for telecasting Indian domestic cricket which accounts for much of its popularity. How popular Neo Sports and Neo Sports Plus will be in Sri Lanka is still to be seen due to Neo concentrating a lot on sporting events related to India.

LBN launches "Neo Sports"

LBN has launched "Neo Sports" a channel that has dedicated itself for cricket. Neo Sports is operated by Nimbus. LBN we believe will take just a little longer to go for commercial operations. They are still in the process of restoring the network and most of the major work is done.

Neo Sports will be a definite advantage for LBN since the India - Sri Lanka cricket series will be shown live on Neo. We believe that if LBN begins commercial operations before the India-Sri Lanka cricket series begins then this channel will be a good marketing advantage for LBN to sell new connections.

More time required

It is now two weeks since LBN commenced test transmissions and we believe that it will take longer for the commercial operations to resume because they are still in the process of repairing their damaged network.

We are also made aware that all their channels will be made available once they are fully operational since it seems that some contracts have to be refreshed too. We would like to be updated on the local and international channels provided by LBN at present.

Except for the notice on their web site we are yet to see a press release from LBN regarding their operations. We are also made to believe that they are contemplating a hike in their monthly rentals as well as connection charges and this information is expected to be made public after commercial operations resume. However the hike is expected to affect only new subscribers and may not affect their existing subscribers.

Please update us on the latest on LBN as the days progress.

Test Transmission continues.......

LBN test transmission is continuing and they are still correcting the faults in certain areas and connecting their customers to the network.

We believe that the time that will be required for this correcting will be more than two weeks and LBN may be able to resume full scale operations during next month.

According to some reports that have been received by us it seems that some channels that are available in one area may not be available in another area. This is not confirmed though but all channels should be available at the time that full scale operations are expected to resume. We also hear that LBN has to renew some of the contracts that they have with their content providers since they have not being in operation for a period of seven months and once all of these are also sorted out then full scale operations can resume.

Unconfirmed information is also coming in that LBN is expected to raise subscription rates due to the losses incurred by the company due to the closure and the cost of the initial connection may also increase.

Please keep us updated on the latest on LBN as the days progress.

No information yet

We are unable to ascertain the result of yesterdays court hearing (if there was one) or the one before it either where LBN was supposed to withdraw all cases it had files against the authorities.

We did not see any official statement anywhere and neither has there been any reply to our emails to the MD.

We have therefore adopted a wait and see approach since it seems that the test transmissions are progressing as usual so we believe that things are turning out smoothly and hope that it continues to do so.

We are sorry to inform you that we have had to delete some comments that carried unsuitable language and were not at all related to the discussion. We once again request all of you to refrain from posting comments such as these, and if this does continue we will be compelled to disable Anonymous commenting which would mean that all of you will have to register with blogger and obtain a user name and password before being able to post comments here.

Please continue to update us on the latest regarding LBN and its test transmissions as the days progress.

LBN Appeals Court hearing today

It seems that LBN is having an Appeals Court hearing today (Jan 11th) but we are unable to confirm this. Lets hope that it all ends well for LBN management and their staff today bringing the seven month ordeal to a close.

The last seven months have been the darkest in the cable television industry for Sri Lanka.

Hopefully today is the last day of court hearings and nothing more should be there hereafter. If today is the last hearing we will be expecting an official announcement from LBN.

Please keep us updated folks.

Excellent Work

It is great to see LBN Technical Staff communicating with their customers via this blog. According to the information that we are gathering it is certain that LBN has now shifted into high gear and is working towards restoring all connections in the shortest time possible.

What should be understood is that time will be taken to check all the cables and repair them if possible otherwise they will have to be replaced.

After waiting seven months without the service we hope that the customers will hold on for another week or so till LBN gets its distribution network back in working order and then starts to connect all the remaining channels.

We have given below some of the areas on which LBN is now visible as per the communications that LBN Technical is having on this blog

"COLOMBO 04 up to Kinross Av. Co- 05 & Co-08, a. Park Rd. b. Fife Rd. c. Jawaththa Rd. d. Spathodia Av. e. Thimbirigasyaya Rd. f. London Pl g. Bullers Ln. h. Conniston Pl. i. Bauddhaloka Mv. j. Isipathana Mv. k. Siripa Ln. l. Dabare Mv. m. Victoria Pl. n. Elvitigala Flats. o. Manning Flats. p. Anderson Flats. q. Thalakotuwa Gn, r. Swarna Rd, In the above areas signal is ok "

Please keeps us updated on the latest on LBN as the days progress

LBN gets go ahead for resumption

According to unconfirmed sources we hear that LBN has got the clearance from the Appeals Court to recommence transmission. We are yet to verify this information.

In addition LBN has updated their web site stating the following.

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Test Transmission Only

Due to extensive damaged caused to the network during the last seven months some customers may not receive the test transmission until the network is rectified. This is expected to take up to two weeks

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We hope that LBN sheds some light on the proceedings in court today and makes an official press release on the resumption of test transmission.

We can gather from the information on the LBN website that commercial operations will only resume after two weeks.

Please keep us updated on the latest regarding LBN as the day progresses and more information on the hearing today is received.

LBN Appeals Court hearing today

LBN is scheduled to have an Appeals Court hearing today (Jan 9th) and is expected to withdraw all cases against the authorities. We hope that this will be the last court hearing.

We hope and expect an official statement from LBN after this hearing regarding the status of their operations and the expected relaunch of commercial operations.

Certain Areas receiving signals

Tomorrow the LBN Appeals Court hearing will be held and it seems that they will have to withdraw all the cases against all the authorities and we expect the court case to be closed thereafter and then hopefully there will be an official statement from LBN regarding the status of their operations and a probable date for the restart of full commercial operations.

In addition it seems that certain areas in Wellawatte, Dabare Mawatha, Manning town areas are getting signals and they seem to be getting the channels such as Zee Cafe, Zee Studio, VH1, MTV, Star Sport, ESPN, Nickelodian, AXN, NDTV, TBN, EWTN, Channel News Asia and all the local channels. However we are unable to confirm this but we hope that LBN subscribers will verify this information.

We would also urge the bloggers here not to engage in a war of words with others and also not to engage in posting unsuitable language. Please keep this blog clean and use it to communicate with each other on the coverage, reception and any improvements that you would like to have on LBN. In addition please do not post fraudulent information which may mislead others.

Please continue to keep us updated on the information such as the coverage and channels available and also the latest regarding LBN as the days progress.

Many not receiving test transmissions

It seems that even though LBN has commenced testing, several of their subscribers are unable to receive the service. This may be due to the fact that the network has been out of operation for a long period of time and there may be damaged cables and power units, etc.

Testing is being carried out mainly using the local channels and some pay channels such as ESPN Star Sports however we are unable to clarify this information.

According to information received by us it seems that the Appeals Court hearing on Jan 9th will go ahead and LBN will have to withdraw all the cases that it has filed against the authorities.

We expect that LBN will take a few more days to repair all damaged cables and/or switch on the power units in order for everyone to receive the transmissions. After all waiting a few more days is not going to be too much since many have waited for more than 6 months for the resumption of service. However we hope LBN expedites the process of restoring services.

According to our estimate LBN should be back in commercial operation in about one month and it may be sooner or later depending on the damage sustained to the equipment and distribution system and the speed at which they are able carry out the repairs.

In order to assist LBN with the restoration process we believe that it is necessary for customers who are unable to receive the service to call and inform them of the area in which they are residing.

Please keep us updated on the latest on LBN as the days progress.

LBN resumes test transmissions from today

It is confirmed that LBN is starting test transmissions from today Jan 4th (Refer Web Site www.lbn.lk). This is indeed great news for the customers of LBN who have been deprived of their entertainment for over 6 months.

We are not certain whether testing is commencing for the analog and the digital subscribers or only for the analog subscribers.

We are not sure when the commercial operations are said to begin however we believe that this may happen in about two weeks but there may be delays taking into consideration that the system was kept shut for a long period of time.

Congratulations to the management of LBN and specially the MD Mr. Shirantha Herath on the victory and we hope that things will move smoothly from today onwards.

We kindly request the LBN subscribers to update us on the channels that are available and the areas in which the test transmissions can be received as the days progress.

No official confirmation yet

We are still to receive an update regarding the LBN Court hearing that was held on Jan 2nd. According to unconfirmed sources we hear that LBN has got the go ahead and should start test transmissions today but we cannot verify this information. We are not sure whether the test transmissions today are a full test transmission as a result of the motion or the test transmission that was carried out every Thursday as a result of a court ruling several months back.

We would like to request our fellow bloggers to refrain from making posts using foul language and if you continue to do so, we will be forced to take action against those doing so.

Please keep us updated on the latest regarding LBN as the days progress and anyone receiving any test transmission please update us giving your area.

LBN Magistrates Court hearing today

We have a received an email from Mr. Shirantha Herath Managing Director of LBN stating that they received the TRC license on 29th December 2006. Accordingly they filed a motion in the Magistrates Court yesterday (Jan 1st) to get the seals lifted. The AG's Department had requested time till today to revert and the case will be taken up today (Jan 2nd) at the Magistrates Court at 2pm.

They expect the seals to be removed and to commence test transmissions thereafter.

At this moment we would like to once again wish you all a "Very Happy and Prosperous New Year 2007" and express our thanks to Mr. Shirantha Herath for updating us on the latest status.

Please keep us updated on the latest regarding the LBN court case and any other information as the day progresses.