LBN Cable TV Forum

LBN the most vibrant in Colombo

2012-01-02T13:20:00.003+05:30

In the colombo region LBN is arguably the most vibrant pay television company in Sri Lanka. Channels that are clearly not available on any other pay operator are available such as Ten Action, Big CBS channels such as Spark, Prime & Love in addition to Sony Asia & AXN Beyond.

With a great lineup of channels such as this, LBN is clearly the leading pay operator in colombo and the non of the Indian DTH operators and the local operators Dialog & PEO TV are able to provide a better service.

The only thing that is biggest draw back for LBN is the lack of coverage and sadly they are not as vibrant as the channel lineup when it comes to expanding coverage plus the LBN available out of colombo is not able to effectively compete with competitors due to the lack of channels.

Happy & Prosperous New Year 2012

2011-12-31T17:50:00.001+05:30

We take this opportunity to wish all our fellow bloggers the management and staff of LBN,

"A Happy & Prosperous New Year 2012"

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T17:13:00.002+05:30

We take this opportunity to wish all our fellow bloggers and the management and staff of LBN.

"A Very Merry Christmas"

SUBA ALUTH AWURUDDAK WEWA

2011-04-12T12:06:00.000+05:30

We take this opportunity to wish all our fellow bloggers, staff & management of LBN a Happy New Year.

SUBA ALUTH AWURUDDAK WEWA

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

LBN adds BBC Entertainment & Ceebies

2011-03-08T09:04:00.003+05:30

Sri Lanka's most dynamic pay television company have added BBC Entertainment & CBeebies to their lineup from yesterday. With these additions LBN have increased their channel offerings to 110. We are unable to confirm whether the feeds for these new channels are the Indian feeds or the Singapore feeds, however LBN seems to be successfully showing the big wigs of pay television Dialog TV & PEO TV that they are a force to be reckoned with and can play the game even better than them.

Only PEO TV carried these two channels prior to be LBN launch. We hope LBN adds channels such as "Fox Family Movies", "Universal Sci Fi", etc in the near future.

BBC Entertainment - http://bbcentertainment.com
CBeebies - http://www.cbeebies.com

Rugby treat for everyone via Setanta Sports on LBN

2011-02-08T09:00:00.003+05:30

It's good news for Rugby fans on LBN Cable TV network as the pay television provider has launched Setanta Sports Asia by replacing local channel Max. Setanta Sports has exclusive rights for the the major Rugby events in a calendar year. Unlike the step motherly treatment given by India centric sports channels ESPN, Star Sports, Neo, etc towards Rugby, this channel promises exclusive live action.

Well done LBN by becoming the first & presently the only pay television provider to have Setanta Sports on their network.

Website : Setanta Sports Asia

Happy New Year 2011

2010-12-31T16:23:00.001+05:30

We take this opportunity to thank our fellow bloggers who have been with us throughout 2010 & continued to update us with the latest about LBN & wish them, the management & staff of LBN a

"Happy & Prosperous New Year 2011"

Merry Christmas

2010-12-23T18:02:00.001+05:30

We take this opportunity to wish our fellow bloggers, management & staff of LBN Cable TV a "Very Merry Christmas".

"Merry Christmas To You All"

LBN adds Ten Cricket

2010-09-03T09:33:00.003+05:30

LBN has put Dialog TV (the so called Future Today) and PEO TV (the national pay television network) to shame by being the first local pay television company to add Ten Cricket to their lineup. If only LBN had the coverage, the other operators would be in the grave at this very moment.

Being an operator with limited coverage & resources LBN has shown that they are not intimidated by the sheer size of the others.

Well done LBN keep up the good work.

We are still here!!!!

2010-08-06T10:04:00.000+05:30

Fellow bloggers, it's been a long time since we made a post & we have been keeping up with the recent trends in the media but sadly we have not had the time to concentrate on this blog. We noticed that endless spamming is taking place, driving some of our fellow bloggers away however we thank our dear bloggers who are still making use of this blog to share information even though we have not done our part for a long time.

We thank you for continuing to use this blog & we will do our utmost best to do our part in maintaining this blog by keeping it updated. We will also take all necessary steps required to delete spam.

Add SET Max soon

2010-03-23T09:47:00.002+05:30

Due to the lack of the SET Max channel on LBN, the LBN subscribers are missing out on IPL as they have been doing so for the last 2 years. SET Max has acquired the IPL telecast rights for a few more years and we hope the management of LBN take steps to add the channel soon. In other news we are receiving reports that some channels have been dropped from LBN without notifying the subscribers and we hope that those channels are added back once again.

Happy New Year 2010

2009-12-29T13:44:00.005+05:30

We take this opportunity to wish the Management & Staff of LBN, our fellow bloggers a "Very Happy and Prosperous New Year 2010". We thank you for your contribution towards making this blog a wonderful success and for continuing to update this blog with the latest news and we hope that you will be with us throughout the coming year as well.

Merry Christmas 2009

2009-12-23T19:46:00.001+05:30

We take this opportunity to wish the management and staff of LBN and all our fellow bloggers a "Very Merry Christmas". We hope that this Christmas turns out to be a very special and blessed one.

LBN adds AXN Beyond and SET Asia

2009-08-31T15:40:00.002+05:30

LBN have added english language channels AXN Beyond & SET Asia with immediate effect. We are not sure to which packages these channels have been allocated to but this is a good move by LBN. These channels are not available on any pay television operator in sri lanka and the region making it a first for LBN. AXN Beyond is a channel that compliments AXN and is a must for pay television operators since some AXN programmes like Lost have been moved to the channel.

It is a good move by LBN by adding these channels and we hope that they get the FOX channels onboard in due course.

AXN Beyond : http://www.axnbeyond-asia.com/
SET Asia : http://www.set-asia.com/shows

LBN requires more channels

2009-06-22T11:24:00.003+05:30

With impending competition from Dialog TV and PEO TV. LBN should take steps to launch more channels on their platform. One thing that LBN has to an advantage is that most of the areas covered by LBN has a strong Tamil speaking population and therefore since LBN have more tamil channels than the other two operators they are able to maintain their subscriber base. But LBN has to expand out of their comfort zone and take on these two wigs.

In the recent past we are hearing of bad customer service and technical problems resulting in channels being off air for considerable time are being reported.

We hope these are sorted out soon.

LBN testing MGM Asia

2009-04-23T15:38:00.003+05:30

LBN has commenced the testing of MGM Asia movie channel. This is indeed a great move by LBN since they will be first pay network in Sri Lanka to offer the channel.

www.mgmchannel.com/asia/

Suba Aluth Awruddak Wewa

2009-04-12T16:52:00.000+05:30

We take this opportunity to wish the management and staff of LBN and our fellow bloggers "Suba Aluth Awruddak".

We thank you for the support extended towards us and for your invaluable contributions and look forward to continue with you into the future.

Sun TV back on air

2009-03-04T19:22:00.001+05:30

Popular tamil language channel SUN TV has returned to LBN after several months. The absence was due to piracy by small scale pay television operators. The sister channels operated by Sun TV such as Sun Music are not back as yet however we believe that they would also return soon. Mobile Posting powered by Yahoo GO!

Happy New Year 2009

2008-12-31T17:15:00.001+05:30

We take this opportunity to wish the Management & Staff of LBN, Our fellow Bloggers

"A Very Happy and Prosperous 2009.
May the New Year be a Blessed one for all of you"

We thank all of you for your contributions and also thank LBN for the wonderful support that was extended towards us.

A Very Merry & Blessed Christmas

2008-12-22T19:15:00.002+05:30

We take this opportunity to wish our fellow bloggers, the Management & Staff of LBN a

"Very Merry & Blessed Christmas"

We hope LBN is available to restore signals of Sun TV on their platform very soon. This will be a great Christmas gift to all their subscribers.

Update on Sun TV issue from LBN website

2008-11-21T12:17:00.001+05:30

LBN acquired the rights to carry SUN Network channels from the authorized distributor in Sri Lanka of SUN Networks. This arrangement has been there for over 3 years. However the distributor has been unable to make the required payments to SUN TV as the other networks have resorted to pirating through DISH TV. As a result SUN TV cancelled all the cards issued to the distributor including LBN.

LBN did not have a direct relationship with SUN Networks as we were dealing with the distributor in Sri Lanka. We have already gone and met the relevant people at SUN TV to present our case. However the demands made by SUN TV of Rs2.8M per month with a deposit of Rs16.5M is not realistic for LBN. This unreasonable demand is, we believe is due to a misunderstanding on the part of SUN TV and we are once again discussing with SUN TV to resolve same.

It would be wrong for us to give a commitment of a date when SUN TV channels will resume but assure you that we will do everything possible to get these channels restored for the benefit of our tamil speaking customers.

Please note that the above is quoted from the LBN website from the link "Sun TV broadcast update".

LBN says no financial issue

2008-11-14T15:38:00.004+05:30

As per our previous post titled "Sun TV off air? LBN having cash problems" Mr. Shirantha Herath - Managing Director of LBN has replied saying that the reason for the withdrawal of Sun TV was due to the piracy by illegal cable operators and losses incurred by Sun TV as a result and is not in any way related to any payment issue. Accordingly all payments by LBN have been carried out on due dates.

LBN has also expressed their disappointment with this blog for not contacting them before carrying out the post in order to obtain their views. We wish to apologise to them regarding this issue and have already conveyed our apologies directly to Mr Shirantha.

LBN has already indicated that they will make representations to Sun TV and resume transmission as soon as possible.

We have also contacted Sun TV but have not received any reply from them regarding this matter.

We wish to thank LBN for contacting us and clearing the air regarding the withdrawal of Sun TV.

Sun TV off air! LBN having cash problems?

2008-11-13T14:14:00.004+05:30

According to reports coming in it seems that the Sun TV channels are off air on LBN. Initially LBN said that it was a technical problems but according to recent reports it seems that LBN have not paid their dues to Sun TV which has resulted in the removal of the channel from their lineup.

We hope that LBN sorts out the problem regarding Sun TV since many LBN susbcribers view this channel. In addition it should be said that this sort of cash flow problems should not arise since it could lead to further problems and LBN could end up like Comet Cable.

If the present management of LBN cannot run the company then should get some new investors to bail out the company or many subscribers will be left without any service for the hardearned money that they invested.

LBN to add 9 more channels?

2008-07-23T11:07:00.002+05:30

According to information coming in it seems that LBN have allocated 9 more slots for channels on their system. There is no information on what the channels may be but they may appear in a few days since at the moment LBN are broadcasting repeat channels on those frequencies.

We hope LBN makes arrangements for their subscribers to be able to watch the Olympic Games on their platform via the DD channels.

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

LBN adds two more channels

2008-05-21T15:06:00.003+05:30

LBN has taken increased its channel offerings by two by adding the Animax & UTV World Movies channels onto their platform during the last few days. At the moment LBN is the only Sri Lankan pay television company to carry these channels since Animax which was carried by Dialog TV earlier was taken off air over a flimsy excuse.

LBN has continually maintained an edge over Dialog TV by introducing channels first on a more regular basis than Dialog TV.

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

No IPL for LBN subscribers

2008-04-21T10:52:00.002+05:30

Due to the inability of LBN to transmit SET Max on their network, subscribers are unable to watch the IPL cricket tournament. This may be due to the fact that Dialog TV had exclusive rights to broadcast SET Max during the World Cup held last year but it is almost one year since the World Cup and LBN should have taken steps to secure SET Max on their network.

We hope that LBN management will take appropriate steps to secure SET Max within the next few weeks.

Suba Aluth Awruddak Wewa

2008-04-10T08:22:00.002+05:30

We take this opportunity to wish the Management, Staff & Subscribers of LBN a Peaceful, Happy & Prosperous New Year.

With LBN taking on the other service providers by providing free decoders to new customers, etc we are sure that LBN will be a force to be reckoned with during the coming year.

LBN relaunches website

2008-03-31T13:53:00.002+05:30

LBN has relaunched their website giving their subscribers/prospective subscribers a whole new look.

However it should be said that the number of channels in their lineup have reduced by a few. However the website has a whole new feel to it in addition to several other features and hopefully this website will be updated regularly reflecting the true picture at LBN.

LBN should also take steps to take their analog service off line and portray themselves as a purely digital company. In addition services announced earlier such a broadband services and HDTV should be implemented.

At present the LBN digital service is available only in Colombo and this should be expanded into Wattala, Beruwala & Nuwara Eliya.

Since LBN has a service running in Wattala they should make use of this opportunity to cover areas to include Ragama, Kandana, Ja Ela where they will be able to entice a large number of subscribers. Many people in the areas mentioned above are sandwiched between cable television areas since Negombo up to Seeduwa is covered by cable television services and Wattala has cable television services which has resulted in these people acquiring connections from competitors who provide services using wireless technology. LBN will do well if they can cover these areas soon.

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

LBN Wattala loosing channels

2008-02-26T11:52:00.002+05:30

According to reports from LBN subscribers in the wattala over the last few months they have been steadily loosing channels. When LBN took over Multivision operated cable networks there were around 50 channels but now it seems to have dropped to 30.

According they have lost news channels expect for Al Jazeera and all music channels.

We hope LBN rectifies this problem with their Wattala operations since their colombo operations are steadily progressing. However if this problem is not rectified LBN subscribers in Wattala may switch operators.

Subscriber dissatisfaction

2008-01-23T11:35:00.000+05:30

Many of the LBN subscribers are expressing dissatisfaction over the sudden halting of channel expansion and the cost of digital upgrading. Many channels that were promised to their subscribers have not been launched after the last channel was introduced in the form of Zee Sports way back in November 2007.

The retaining of the Analog service and the replacement of channels with others seems to have caused some form of confusion which adds to the cost of the digital upgrade. LBN are apparently saying that they will discontinue the analog service but however they have retained it and are also promoting it.

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

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2007-12-23T21:03:00.000+05:30

We like to take this opportunity to wish our Bloggers, the Management and Staff of LBN "A Very Merry Christmas" and "A Happy New Year 2008".

Please keep us updated on the latest on LBN as the days progress and into the new year.

Zee Sports now on LBN

2007-11-30T15:41:00.000+05:30

Zee Sports the sports channel that is part of the Zee television network has replaced Zee Trendz on LBN. The Zee television network acquired a pis also a shareholder of Ten Sports.

Zee Sports has the live broadcast rights to the Indian Cricket League which commences today. With the addition of Zee Sports, all sports channel in this region are now available on LBN. LBN is expected to add more channels in due course.

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

Hallmark Channel now on LBN

2007-11-02T16:28:00.000+05:30

Just a few days after Srilakvahini replaced Max TV on the LBN platform it seems that Hallmark Channel has now replaced Srilakvahini.

In addition LBN will be adding channels such as BBC World, Animax, FTV, Channel V, Zee Sports, Raj TV, etc soon. It looks like the delay was due to lack of some transmission decoders.

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

Srilakvahini ties up with LBN

2007-10-17T08:31:00.000+05:30

Local Satellite Channel Srilakvahini have tied up with LBN in order to make their channel available on LBN's pay television platform. This channel which operates for approximately 12 hours hopes to extend transmission to 24 hours. In addition they are hoping to extend transmissions to cover the entire globe.

We are unable to confirm whether Srilakvahini is now available on LBN however the agreements to do so have been put in place.

The Daily News (17th Oct 07) : Srilakvahini-LBN satellite tie-up for better choice

Why slow and why replace?

2007-10-12T12:51:00.000+05:30

Looks like the LBN channel expansion slowed down after the introduction of "Ten Sports" back in August. The only exception was that a Saudi Channel replaced "Channel News Asia" for this Ramazan season. This brings up the question of why replace?

Since LBN is operating on cable based methods they have no bandwidth restrictions on their distribution systems. However we feel that it may be a lack of receiving equipment or maybe they need new distribution equipment just in order to expand further that lead them to replace instead of just add another.

So LBN has Animax, BBC World and a host of other channels in the pipeline which begs the question, why have they not introduced them yet? This may be due above reasons or just that they are still negotiating with the content providers.

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

Saudi Channel for Ramazan Season

2007-09-21T08:35:00.000+05:30

LBN has replaced Channel News Asia with the "Saudi Channel" on a temporary basis for this Ramazan season. In addition they have replaced WIN TV with Kalaignar TV on both their digital service and Analog Service. It is also reported that LBN have removed God TV from their Analog service, this channel will continue to be available on their Digital service.

It looks like LBN will start removing channels from their Analog service over a period of time. Any LBN subscribers who have not moved to the digital service should do so as soon as possible. LBN is expected to launch more channels in due course.

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

LBN to launch more channels this month

2007-09-06T08:38:00.000+05:30

LBN the leading fixed line pay television provider in the country is planning to launch more channels during this month according to unconfirmed sources. The channels in queue are BBC World (English), Raj TV (Tamil), Hallmark (English), Fashion TV (English) and Animax (English). There are a few more channels that may be launched in addition to the above, either this month or in the next few months. LBN which is gearing for increased competition that will come in the form of Comet Digital and SLT IPTV have also expanded their analog services to Wattala, Nuwara Eliya and Beruwala.

LBN has also planned to launch Broadband Services and offer High Definition Television channels by next year.

We take this opportunity to request our fellow bloggers to strictly adhere to the rules set out for comments that are listed at the bottom of the right hand column under the title "Commenting Rules". Please keep us updated on the latest on LBN as the days progress.

LBN launches "Ten Sports"

2007-08-20T11:31:00.000+05:30

LBN has launched Ten Sports, making them the second pay television operator in Sri Lanka to have the full range of sports channels available in this region.

Now LBN subscribers can tune into the very best of WWE Entertainment, Cricket from this region as well as other sports including UEFA Champions League.

LBN is now making preparations to provide "BBC World", "Animax" and several other channels to their subscribers.

Website : http://www.tensports.com/

LBN adds Australia Network

2007-08-10T10:02:00.000+05:30

LBN has added Australia Network to their lineup of channels. This channel is a full English language channel that focuses on entertainment, sports and educational content which is produced in Australia. This is a channel primarily for Australians who are living in this region. It should be noted that this channel telecasts Australian Rules Football and the Tri Nations Rugby matches which was completed recently. This channel was formerly called ABC Asia Pacific.

LBN is the second operator after Dialog TV to introduce this channel.

Australia Network : http://australianetwork.com/

LBN moving analog channels to digital platform

2007-08-10T09:14:00.000+05:30

Some channels from the LBN line up that were only available on the analog platform but not on the digital platform are now being introduced to the digital platform.

The channels Star Gold, Channel V, Zee Trendz are now working on the digital platform and the local channels ETV, Art TV and Max TV are now on the digital platform but have not been activated as yet.

We urge all LBN subscribers to move to the digital platform from the analog platform and enjoy a better entertainment experience where ever the digital plaform is available.

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

NDTV Profit launched

2007-08-09T08:43:00.000+05:30

LBN has launched Indian business new channel NDTV Profit on its Digital service. This is the sister channel of the Indian news channel NDTV 24X7 (this channel is also available on LBN). This expands the total number of channels on LBN Digital to 65.

LBN has more channels in the pipeline which will be launched soon.

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

Ten Sports : Soon on LBN

2007-08-02T09:27:00.000+05:30

LBN will be introducing Ten Sports soon and they have also revised package and installation rates. The new installation and package rates are available on the LBN Website under their "Payments" section.

In addition to Ten Sports they will be introducing several other channels in due course.

LBN launches services in Wattala

2007-07-26T08:43:00.000+05:30

LBN has acquired an existing pay television operator functioning in Wattala which has resulted in the expansion of LBN services to the Wattala area. The Wattala operator was operating in conjunction with Ruhuna 2001 Multivision prior to the takeover.

LBN is presently carrying out a low key advertising campaign in the form of street banners in order to publicize their takeover. At present only the analog service is available but according to information gathered by us the digital service is expected towards the end of this year. At present approximately 50 channels are available on the Wattala service.

It seems that part of LBN's expansion plan is to acquire established low key pay television operators in different areas in addition to building the infrastructure where none exists.

The Wattala office of LBN is located at Pearl Park close to the Gemunu cinema. LBN Wattala can be contacted on (011) 5333912.

Star Cricket launched on LBN

2007-07-19T08:17:00.000+05:30

LBN has successfully launched Star Cricket by last night becoming the first pay television operator in Sri Lanka to do so. Star Cricket is part of the ESPN Star Sports package and is a totally cricket oriented channel. This is the second cricket oriented channel in this region, the first being Neo Sports.

The channel is supposed to be available on the LBN Digital Service. We are not able to confirm whether the channel is available on the LBN Analog service. We wish to state that subscribers of the LBN Analog service should upgrade to their digital service in order to be able to receive the new channels that are to be introduced since they may not be available in the analog service.

Star Cricket... Soon on LBN

2007-07-16T15:16:00.000+05:30

Just hours after we posted below about LBN's expansion plans. LBN has announced that they will launch Star Cricket soon. We sincerely hope that this "soon" will not be as long as they took to introduce HBO Hits, Family and the Discovery Communication channels.

This is indeed a big boost to subscribers of LBN since most of the ESPN Star Cricket content has been moved to this channel and by introducing this channel they have made sure that they will be providing the best sports content to their subscribers.

LBN unveils plans

2007-07-16T10:18:00.000+05:30

According to a report in The Sunday Leader dated July 15th, LBN has unveiled some of its future plans. Accordingly LBN is planning to expand their coverage to areas including Wattala and a few other areas. In addition to coverage expansion LBN is said to be testing HDTV and they hope to introduce internet services via their cable service soon. With regard to internet services we wish to state that LBN has spoken of this internet service several years ago but nothing happened so far, we hope that this time at least the service will be introduced.

In addition to all this LBN also plans to expand their channel offerings by adding channels such as Animax and a few other rumored channels are BBC World will be reintroduced, FTV (India), Raj TV, Star Cricket. There is however no indication on whether Ten Sports will be introduced and we hope that they add the channel, in addition BBC Entertainment and its kids channel should be introduced soon.

Please us updated on the latest information regarding LBN as the days progress.

Updated : This post was updated with a scanned copy of an article on LBN that appeared in The Sunday Island of July 15th. The same article appeared in The Sunday Leader. We like to thank our fellow bloggers for providing us with the article.

Tamil Cartoon Channel "Chutti TV" on LBN

2007-07-12T08:55:00.000+05:30

Chutti TV the 24 hour Tamil cartoon channel which is part of the Sun TV network has been launched on LBN. This comes hot on the heels of the launch of Discovery Communication Channels by LBN.

LBN is indeed catering to the entertainment needs of the Tamil speaking public by adding several Tamil language channels to their lineup unlike other Sri Lankan pay television providers. We hope other pay television companies in Sri Lanka follow the example set by LBN and provide more entertainment options specially to the Tamil speaking public.

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

Chutti TV - http://www.sunnetwork.in/chuttitv/

LBN must expand coverage

2007-07-10T09:20:00.000+05:30

There are people living in certain areas who are very close to areas covered by LBN but are unable to apply for a connection since they they are not covered by LBN. We hope LBN identifies these areas and improves their coverage and expands fast.

Many of these people have been waiting for a couple of years for LBN to expand. While it is important to add new channels, priority should be given for expansion of coverage too. LBN is undoubtedly Sri Lanka's number one fixed line pay television provider.

We hope LBN adds Ten Sports and Star Cricket to their lineup of sports channels and adds Hallmark Channel, Australia Network also to their lineup.

Please keep us updated on the latest on LBN as the days progress. We hope that LBN subscribers will make use of this blog to discuss issues and for sharing information among themselves.

Discovery, Animal Planet, Travel & Living and Dharmavahini Launched

2007-06-22T09:04:00.000+05:30

LBN have launched Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and Discovery Travel & Living on the digital platform. Analog subscribers will be receiving Discovery Channel.

In addition they have also launched Sri Lanka's first Buddhist Channel called Dharmavahini which is in operation from 7am to 4pm on a daily basis.

LBN one year since that fateful day......

2007-06-19T11:13:00.000+05:30

On 15th June 2007, LBN celebrated the first year anniversary of being sealed by the authorities over what was termed as licensing issues. This incident happened a few days after they launched their digital service. During the period of over 6 months that company was sealed the subscribers, employees and management were affected adversely. The company commenced transmissions again from January 2007 and have become the first pay television network in Sri Lanka to carry channels such as HBO Hits and HBO Family. At moment they are looking at transmitting the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and Discovery Travel and Living over their network.

The period between June 2006 to January 2007 proved to be very testing for the company and they were able to resume transmissions under the original management headed by Mr. Shirantha Herath. A very notable feature during this time were the several legal battles that were being fought by LBN.

We believe that the time period is something that LBN Customers, Employees and Management will not forget. We wish LBN all the best as they strive and give their best to improve their services.

We hope that LBN subscribers will make more use of this blog in order to share their views about the service provided by LBN.

TV Radio Sri Lanka Forum : LBN One Year On.....

LBN launches HBO Hits and Family

2007-06-04T09:21:00.000+05:30

After months of being in the coming soon list, LBN have launched HBO Hits and HBO Family. These two channels are part of the HBO Family and have been the latest additions to the HBO Family in Asia.

LBN has been given the distinction of becoming the first pay television network in Sri Lanka to introduce these channels. In just over a week it will be the first anniversary of the day that marks the closure of LBN under controversial circumstances.

It is expected that the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and Discovery Travel & Living will be introduced on LBN very soon.

Given below are the websites of the new channels

HBO Family - http://www.hboasia.com/family
HBO Hits - http://www.hboasia.com/hits

How soon is "Soon on LBN"?

2007-05-10T12:39:00.000+05:30

It was in February that Mr. Shirantha Herath on an email interview said that HBO Family, Hits, Discovery, Animal Planet, Discovery Travel & Living will be introduced soon on LBN.

On 08th March 2007 we were able to make a post with LBN's official announcement of the soon to be launched channels. It is now more than two months and their is no indication yet of these channels on LBN.

The LBN management caused a stir among the LBN subscribers by revealing the channels but now the enthusiasm seems to have died down that since nothing has happened.

We hope that steps are taken to launch these channels for the benefit of the subscribers as soon as possible.

Please Register now........

2007-05-03T11:58:00.000+05:30

As a result of numerous anonymous comments of an irrelevant nature being posted on this blog and amidst requests from frequent LBN Bloggers we have decided to disable anonymous commenting. As a result of this LBN subscribers who want to post comments on this blog will have to obtain a Google Account.

If you already have a "Google Account"
To comment you have to type your comment and enter your Google Account User ID and Password to comment on this blog. There is no need for you to obtain any other account.

If you have a "Blogger Account"
This means that you have to upgrade your Blogger Account to a Google Account. You will have to visit "blogger.com" and click on "Sign into old blogger" which is on the top right hand corner of the web page. Login using using your Blogger Account and follow the steps to upgrade your account to a Google Account.

I do not have any of the above
Then you will have to visit "www.gmail.com" and click on "Sign up for GMail" and follow the steps to obtain a Google Account. Once you obtain your Google Account you can use that to Log in at "Blogger.com" and then fill out any details required by Blogger. Once you have done then you can use the account to post comments on this blog.

If you have any difficulty in making the registration please email us to "tvradiosrilanka@yahoo.com". We will try our best to assist you with your registration process.

We have introduced this feature to restrict the number of unwanted comments on this blog and enable LBN subscribers to further enrich their experience by exchanging their ideas.

Familiarising with Digital

2007-04-20T09:39:00.000+05:30

Looks like LBN is taking it slow and steady with their digital operations. We believe their plan is convert all their customers to the new digital service in the future. We are getting reports of sound delay in some channels and a few more problems.

Some of the problems in some channels have been already looked into by the engineers at LBN. There seems to be some delay in the launching of the Discovery channels as well as the other HBO channels. This may be due LBN wanting to make the digital platform stable before launching the new channels.

We hope however that LBN works faster to sort of the issues and launch the new channels as soon as possible and we hope LBN reintroduces BBC World back on their platform since this channel is being missed by many of its subscribers.

Minor sound problems

2007-03-28T09:01:00.000+05:30

We have received some unconfirmed reports that sound quality on certain channels on LBN Digital are not up to the standard and the quality of the sound is varying from channel to channel. This may be due to the fact that LBN maybe still fine tuning their digital operations and we believe that it will be rectified soon.

It looks like LBN have resumed full commercial operations and have carried out a soft relaunch and have already issued bills to their subscribers.

We are unable to confirm when LBN will be introducing the channels such as HBO Hits, HBO Family, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and Discovery Travel & Living but we feel that these channels will be available once all the fine tuning of the digital transmissions is completed.

If anyone is able to confirm the date of the launch of the above channels please post a comment in the comments section of this blog.

LBN making a slow and steady rise

2007-03-14T11:01:00.000+05:30

LBN which generally does not publicize itself seems to be having a slow and steady come back. As of late the test transmission notice has been removed from their website and we believe that they are either gearing up for their commercial relaunch or may have even had a soft launch.

They too have added a number of new channels but it is sad that they are unable to carry out transmission of the World Cup but we hope that the management is in talks with Nimbus or Dialog TV to carry out transmission.

They have removed some channels from their lineup such as DD Sports and BBC World, not sure whether they are available on LBN digital. We would like LBN analog and digital subscribers to give us a comprehensive list of the analog service channels and digital service channels since LBN has more channels that indicated on their website.

Coming Soon on LBN......

2007-03-08T10:27:00.000+05:30

So it looks like the channels HBO Hits & Family, Discovery, Animal Planet and Travel & Living will be available on LBN soon. LBN will be the first cable network in Sri Lanka to have Hits and Family from the HBO Package. We have given below the web sites of the channels for those who want to check what type of programming is in store for them. We did not include the Animal Planet India website since it has been off line for a considerable period of time.

HBO Hits
HBO Family
Discovery Channel
Discovery Travel & Living

Interview with Mr. Shirantha Herath MD of LBN

2007-02-28T13:50:00.000+05:30

Recently we interviewed Mr. Shirantha Herath who is the MD of LBN by email. We have given below the questions that we asked him and his responses to them.

Admin : There are rumours saying that LBN is financially wrecked. We know that a seven month shutdown can have a very bad negative impact on a company financially. How would you explain the present situation at LBN?
Shirantha : Whilst LBN has had to contend with a massive loss due to this issue we are in no way wrecked. Financially we are in a position to continue operations and expand the network as well as continue to improve on the services we provide.

Admin : When is the expected commercial relaunch of LBN?
Shirantha : We hope to commence commercial operations shortly.

Admin : Has the transmission network of LBN being damaged badly due to the shutdown. If not why has there been an extended period of testing?
Shirantha : There was extensive damage to the network. We have rectified most of the damage and have reconnected a majority of the customers who had changed to local antennas.

Admin : Should we expect an increase in the monthly rental of LBN packages and also the initial installation cost?
Shirantha : There will be no increase in the monthly charges for existing customers for at least the next six months. We are in the process of reevaluating the pricing in view of the new content we are introducing. If there is a revision this will apply to new customers only.

Admin : Will LBN be broadcasting the ICC World Cup tournament live? Dialog TV is said to have obtained exclusive rights for this on the pay television platform.
Shirantha : Dialog has got exclusive satellite rights and we are in discussions with the broadcaster. If Dialog has paid a premium to stop other platforms and deny non dialog customers from watching the world cup we will not be able to broadcast the world cup on LBN. This is yet to be finalized.

Admin : What else can we expect from LBN in the future?
Shirantha : We have already launched two sports channels. Namely Neo Sports and Neo Sports PLUS. We are in the final stages of discussions with HBO to launch HBO Family and HBO Hits. In addition we will also be adding Discovery, Animal Planet and Discovery Travel and Living. Very shortly. However the most exciting thing in the future is the introduction of High Speed internet. The license for this has already been given by the TRC and we hope to launch this in the 2^nd half of 2007. Whilst the digital signal is available at present we will formally launch the digital services shortly. There appears to be a common misconception that digital is only available on satellite.

So it looks like LBN subscribers are in for a treat with the upcoming launch of HBO Hits, HBO Family and Discovery Communication Channels. Not to mention high speed internet which seems to be the best thing that can happen to LBN subscribers. Even if LBN does not show the ICC World Cup the planned channel lineup as well as the internet plans will make up for it.

We like to thank Mr. Shirantha for taking time to answer the above questions.

Message from LBN

2007-02-26T15:53:00.000+05:30

20th February, 2007

Dear Valued Customer,

After seven and half long months of closure by the authorities, we have now been permitted commence operation and are now conducting test transmissions. Our network has suffered immense damage during the period of closure. We are in the process of restoring the network.

If you are not receiving our transmission, please call our Customer Service Hotline 5 300 300

We greatly value your patronage and wish to thank you very sincerely for your patience during this difficult period and having kept faith in LBN

LBN MANAGEMENT

*** Even though the message is dated as 20th February 2007 it should be said that it appeared on our computer screens only a few hours ago and after we made the previous post - Admin (TV Radio Sri Lanka)

Financial problems?

2007-02-26T14:20:00.000+05:30

We are getting unconfirmed reports that LBN is facing a financial crisis as a result of their closure which lasted over 6 months. The LBN website still carries the test transmission message and we request LBN customers to confirm whether they have received their monthly bills or not.

It is not surprising that LBN may be having some financial problems due to the closure but this is said to be a more serious issue. We again stress that this is an unconfirmed story.

Only LBN management will be able to tell us the truthfulness of the story and also why the test transmission message is still on the website. Another unconfirmed story is that in certain areas commercial transmissions have resumed but in certain others they are still on test transmission mode.

In other news, even though "Dialog TV" have been awarded exclusive rights to broadcast the ICC Cricket World Cup it seems that other operators such as LBN are also in with a chance to carry to out the broadcast. Please read "Will the Dialog TV broadcast of the ICC World Cup really be exclusive" for more on this subject.

Commercial Transmissions resumption message

2007-02-15T14:40:00.000+05:30

According to a report received by us it seems that a message had appeared on Neo Sports informing customers of the resumption of commercial operations of LBN and requesting them to pay all their arears due up to 15th June 2006.

The website still carries the test transmission announcement but it may due to the fact that the website has not been updated still.

We hope that LBN will make an official announcement regarding the resumption of commercial transmissions and hopefully anyone else who saw the message can clarify further.

Commercial or Test Transmissions

2007-02-12T13:45:00.000+05:30

We are receiving conflicting reports regarding the status of LBN broadcasts. Some say that the LBN representatives are telling that commercial operations commenced on Feb 1st however others are pointing out the fact that the channels are having the test transmission scroll still displayed on the channel as well as on the web site.

With this we can only come to the conclusion that commercial operations have not started. Only LBN can answer that question since not much of information is coming out from there. Well at least they are now fully operational and they did a good job of bringing their entire network back into full strength after 6 months of being shutdown.

In addition several subscribers are requesting LBN to add Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and Discovery Travel & Living to their lineup including SET Max which is scheduled to carry the ICC World Cup Live.

It is quite baffling to note why LBN have not added the Discovery Channels to their lineup since they are standard pay television channels.

LBN restores all channels

2007-02-06T10:52:00.000+05:30

LBN which is still in test transmission mode according to their website has restored all the channels that were functioning prior to shutdown including all local channels except TV Lanka (the reasons for which are understandable). Even new channels such as Neo Sports and Neo Sports Plus are on air.

Their transmission network has now been fully restored. We expect LBN to commence full scale commercial operations anytime soon.

We have not got any information on whether LBN has commenced billing it's existing customers. If not it is likely that billing will commence soon.

We would like to request our fellow LBN bloggers not to post Anonymous Comments and to include a consistent nickname when making comments. If Anonymous comments are continued then we will be forced to allow commenting only by bloggers who posses Google Accounts.

Neo Sports Plus from February 2nd

2007-01-30T11:29:00.000+05:30

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"

2007-01-29T11:30:00.000+05:30

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

2007-01-23T09:09:00.000+05:30

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.......

2007-01-17T09:21:00.000+05:30

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

2007-01-12T14:54:00.000+05:30

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

2007-01-11T10:12:00.000+05:30

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

2007-01-11T08:39:00.000+05:30

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

2007-01-09T13:38:00.000+05:30

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.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

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

-----------------------------------------------------------------

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

2007-01-09T09:02:00.000+05:30

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

2007-01-08T10:42:00.000+05:30

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

2007-01-05T10:25:00.000+05:30

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

2007-01-04T12:11:00.000+05:30

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

2007-01-04T09:15:00.000+05:30

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

2007-01-02T08:33:00.000+05:30

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.

2006 : A Year in Review - LBN

2006-12-29T11:36:00.000+05:30

This year turned out to be a very bad year for the subscribers of LBN with the sudden closure of LBN under controversial grounds so lets a look at a summary of things that happened during this year.

LBN which has been entertaining their subscribers for several years were thrown into disarray a week after they launched digital cable services when they were closed on controversial grounds just a week after CBNsat shutdown.

LBN which took the authorities to court after the shutdown were able to obtain Defense Ministry clearance but are still awaiting the TRC license which has to be signed by the President.

LBN Management is constantly being lambasted by their customers for their handling of the crisis. It is also fair to note that LBN customers have been unable to rally themselves to give a helping hand to the company as well as for protecting their investments in the service.

The next court case is scheduled for Jan 9th 2007 and we hope that LBN will be able to resume transmissions soon after.

Well that's all folks for this year since we are taking the weekend and January 1st 2007 off, so we will be back with you from January 2nd 2007. Please keep sending us your valuable emails and also updating this blog with your comments on the latest happenings regarding LBN during the next few days while we are away and also throughout the New Year 2007. For a full review on all the events in the Sri Lankan television and radio media front please read the TV & Radio Sri Lanka Blog post called "2006 : A Year in Review".

We like to take this opportunity to wish all of our fellow Bloggers, the Staff and Management of LBN specially Managing Director of LBN Mr. Shirantha Herath who was keeping in touch with us earlier but not anymore A Happy, Peaceful and Prosperous New Year 2007

Our Wishes for the season

2006-12-20T11:38:00.000+05:30

We would like to take this opportunity to Wish the subscribers of LBN, the management of LBN and all our fellow readers a Very Merry Christmas and we hope that you will be able to enjoy this festive spirit even without your favourite cable television provider.

We are taking a break of one week (we should be back towards the latter part of next week) in view of the festive season so please update this blog with the latest developments regarding LBN. We are also updating this blog to the latest version of "Blogger", so due to this upgrade their may be some difficulties in commenting, so please bear with us if there are some problems while we are away. We are trying our best to make sure that the switch over will be smooth and with minimum interruptions.

In other news LBN is facing a barrage of criticism from its subscribers for not updating its customers on the latest developments or whether they are working on alternatives solutions to their customers. We have sent several emails to the management but they have not been replying to us. Initially LBN did update us on the developments of their court hearings but then abruptly stopped doing that and do not reply to our emails either.

We hope that the management starts to update its 10,000+ subscriber base and works harder to restore services that have been halted for over 6 months now.

We also urge the TRC and all institutions to speed by the issuing of licenses to LBN so that their customers may not be victimized any further.

We would also like to urge the customers of LBN to form a Subscriber Unite similar to CBNsat and we are sure that CBNsat Subscriber Unite will be able to guide you in forming one once there are people who are willing to take the lead in forming this unit.

We hope that this unfortunate crisis that hit the cable television industry in Sri Lanka will be sorted out soon and we will see the restoration LBN services very soon.

Once again we request you to keep updating this blog with the latest news regarding LBN as the days progress.

Form a LBN Subscribers Group

2006-12-15T09:15:00.000+05:30

At the moment according to information that is being received by us LBN is not providing information and keeping their customers informed of the present situation.

We think it is time for the subscribers to form a group and approach the relevant authorities and inform them of your grievances.

Requests by us to LBN customers to form a group like the one formed by CBNsat customers have so far gone unheeded so we hope that someone takes up this challenge and makes sure that the customers are adequately protected.

Commenting made easy

2006-12-15T09:09:00.000+05:30

Complaints have been made by several of our bloggers that commenting on this blog is now difficult due to the implementation of registration process.

Therefore we have decided to remove this feature but we request everyone not to make anonymous comments.

Please include your name in every comment that you make.

Two month wait for Signature

2006-12-11T11:11:00.000+05:30

Over 10,000 subscribers still wait in vain Two-month wait for presidential nod continues to hold up LBN transmission resumption

CBNSat, the satellite broadcasting station which resumed transmission last week after a victorious six-month court battle said the Supreme Court order proved that all allegations made against company were completely false and baseless.

"It was a long fight to clear the name of CBNSat", the cable television provider said in a statement posted on its website.

In an act of solidarity, CBNSat expressed hope that Lanka Broadband Networks (LBN), which still remain sealed, will be permitted by the authorities to resume transmissions soon.

"There are over 10,000 LBN subscribers who are still awaiting transmissions to resume and we hope that the issue will be resolved without any further inconveniences", the company said in a special message titled "Restore LBN".

Notwithstanding Defence Ministry clearance, LBN has still not been allowed to resume operations because the President, under whose purview the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) comes, has so far not signed the relevant documents.

"The documents were sent to the President by the TRC on October 14", LBN Managing Director Shirantha Herath said last week. "Almost two months after, we are still awaiting the green light".

"We have even paid the licence fee", he said. "There are 10,500 customers who have been kept waiting for six months".

The Defence Ministry and TRC have cleared LBN to resume transmission, but a simple formality of granting final Presidential approval has held up the whole process, an industry official said.

Two senior Presidential aides contacted by the Sunday Island were unable to explain the two-month delay in placing a signature on a document, as required by the law.

"Contact the President's Secretary", they suggested but repeated attempts to contact Lalith Weeratunga were futile.

A Media Ministry official said that after CBNSat was allowed to resume transmission following the intervention of the Supreme Court, attempts are apparently being made by those instrumental in sealing CBNSat and LBN to wash their hands off the whole affair.

"We cannot be made the whipping boy because we were not responsible for this situation", he said. "It was the TRC wanted them sealed".

The transmission of CBNsat and LBN cable television were blocked by the CID in June this year for allegedly operating without a valid license.

By Suresh Perera

Restore LBN soon

2006-12-05T12:34:00.000+05:30

After the success of CBNsat and the subsequent take over by Dialog Telekom we hope that the authorities will also allow LBN to resume transmissions soon.

There are over 10,000 subscribers who are awaiting transmissions to resume and we hope that the issue will be resolved without any further inconveniences.

Please update us on the latest on LBN as the days progress. We also hope that the management of LBN will update us on the prevailing situation soon.

Court hearing postponed to Jan 9th 2007

2006-11-28T16:22:00.000+05:30

According to unconfirmed reports that we are receiving it seems that the LBN Appeals Court hearing has been postponed to January 9th 2007.

We are not sure of any reasons for the postponement. But it is likely that the license has not been signed or there is something regarding the Media License.

Please keep us updated on the reasons for the postponement and any new developments regarding LBN as the days progress.

LBN in Appeals Court today (28th Nov)

2006-11-28T09:02:00.000+05:30

LBN Cable Tv will be in courts today for their hearing. After the positive hearing that CBNSat had yesterday one can only hope that LBN will also have a positive reply today. For all to go well the TRC will have to forward the signed documents today to courts but there is still the matter of the media license.

We hope that they will be provisionally be allowed to resume transmission until the media license is granted to them.

We are unaware of the time of todays hearing and we request our fellow bloggers to update us on the result of todays hearing.

Appeals Court tomorrow (Nov 28th)

2006-11-27T12:23:00.000+05:30

LBN is scheduled to have their Appeals court hearing tomorrow. We are unable to confirm the time of tomorrows hearing though.

The TRC license will have to be forwarded to the Appeals Court at the hearing. We hope that the authorities will not delay this any further. However we feel that even if LBN gets the TRC license they not be able to resume transmissions until the media license is also granted.

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

Another license required

2006-11-20T11:47:00.000+05:30

According to a report in The Sunday Times Financial Times yesterday the TRC license for LBN has been submitted to the President for approval last week and the TRC expects them to be delivered anytime now. The signed documents will have to be forwarded to Appeals Court on November 28.

However the TRC says that LBN will have to obtain the media license to begin broadcasting. So it looks like LBN customers are also faced with a long wait to watch their favourite channels.

We are not sure whether LBN has this license in the first place and we are unable to obtain confirmation. But it is unlikely that LBN has this license since we are informed that this media license refers to a license which is still being drafted and has to be approved in parliament.

Please keep us updated as the days progress on any news regarding LBN.

Unfair treatment

2006-11-17T10:04:00.000+05:30

The LBN Magistrates court hearing held on 11th November was postponed to January 17th 2007. But even though LBN was given approval by the MoD and the President ordered the speeding up of licenses to operators who were given MoD clearance, the order has gone unheeded.

We hope the authorities will intervene and restore LBN transmissions immediately.

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

LBN Magistrates Court hearing today?

2006-11-09T12:39:00.000+05:30

We are getting unconfirmed reports that LBN will be having it's Magistrates Court hearing today, however we are unable to obtain confirmation.

Please keep us updated on any developments that arise from this court hearing.

Notice from LBN......

2006-11-09T11:34:00.000+05:30

This below notice was copied off the LBN Website

8th November, 2006

Dear Customer,

As you will see from the extracts given below from the Court of Appeal hearing on the 11th of September 2006, the paper article in the Daily News of 3rd October 2006 and the attached letter from TRC (Telecommunications Regulatory Commission), LBN has received Defense clearance and have also made payment for the license on the 11th of October. We are made to understand that the license is awaiting approval of His Excellency the President. We have requested for an appointment with His Excellency the President to ensure a speedy resolution.

Please be assured that we are doing everything possible to resume transmission as soon as possible.

We thank you for your continued patience.

MANAGEMENT OF LBN

The extracts are included in one of our previous posting. Please click here to see them.

Please register to post comments

2006-11-03T09:37:00.000+05:30

We have restricted anonymous comments on this forum. Please obtain a user name by registering with blogger, if you have previously registered with blogger then you can your previous registration.

The process is very simple and anyone who requires assistance can do so by emailing us on tvradiosrilanka@yahoo.com.

LBN being treated most unfairly

2006-11-01T12:12:00.000+05:30

Judging by what happened over the past few court proceedings of LBN it is well understood that the people who started this unfair shutdown of the cable tv channels are directly influencing the outcome of these proceedings and the authorities.

LBN management has not replied to a single email that we sent them lately for reasons unknown to us.

LBN has got Defense Ministry approval. Please see below.

The President has also ordered the TRC to issue licenses to those who have obtained Defense Ministry approval. Please see below.

The TRC had sent the letter saying that the license will be issued and asked them to make the payment. Please see below

We presume LBN has made the payment and would like confirmation about that from them. But at a court hearing they were told that the media license is also required. We understand that the media license can be processed only after so called new regulations are processed and tabled in parliament. All that's fine but there are cable operators in this country who are operating without this so called new media license (eg: Comet Cable).

So to be fair why can't they just issue the TRC license and give them permission to operate till the media license is issued. It can be done but however this goes against our friends who are behind all this confusion, so they drag this on further.

So this Defense Ministry approval is also an unwanted thing since the operators who have obtained their clearance are also unable to operate still. It is obviously a tactic to delay things.

We would also like to to request the customers of LBN to put pressure on the authorities to restore their connections because we see some comments attacking the Managing Director of LBN.

We are also not happy with the response that the management is giving to us however it still does not warrant so much criticism since they are also helplessly being pulled the way the instigators want them to be pulled, however we do agree that they should adopt a tougher stance.

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

Important
In order to preserve the accuracy of this blog and to make sure that anonymous comments are not posted. We are hereby disabling the function that allows anonymous comments to be made like done previously with the CBNsat Blog. All LBN Customers who want to post comments will have to register with "Blogger". This is of course is a simple process and anyone having problems can email "tvradiosrilanka@yahoo.com" if you require assistance.

FILEnetworks – TV & Radio Sri Lanka form partnership

2006-11-01T09:53:00.000+05:30

We are very happy to announce that TV Radio Sri Lanka Group of Blogs and the FILEnetworks blog have formed a partnership in order to bring you the latest news and updates on TV-Radio industry and software related issues.

FILEnetworks will be bringing you the latest cracks and hacks that are available in the market place.

TV Radio Sri Lanka Group of Blogs consisting of TV Radio Sri Lanka Blog, CBNsat Blog, LBN Cable TV blog, Comet Cable Blog will be bringing you the latest in TV & Radio industry in Sri Lanka.

We hope to pass the benefits of this partnership down to our fellow bloggers.

Court hearing postponed to Nov 28th 2006

2006-10-25T15:17:00.000+05:30

The learned authorities at the Appeals Court have postponed the court case to November 28th it seems. We are however unable to obtain confirmation about this postponement. This is now becoming the style of these court hearings.

We are also unable to ascertain the reason for the postponement too. Please update us if any of you out there have more information.

Sri Lanka set a landmark by sliding down the press freedom ratings yesterday. A recent report on Lanka Business On Line says that Pay Tv piracy is on the rise in Asia and very soon looks like Sri Lanka will hold the number one spot when people are being denied the right to entertainment and they begin looking for alternative means either legally or illegally. Please refer the TV Radio Sri Lanka blog for further details on this.

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

LBN Appeals Court hearing today (Oct 25th)

2006-10-25T11:12:00.000+05:30

Sorry for the late post but according to reports received initially LBN should be having their court hearing today. We do not know the time of the hearing.

We have not got official communication from LBN regarding the result of their previous even though we contacted them by email several times.

At the moment we get unconfirmed reports that LBN has not been given the media license still and we are not sure whether they got the TRC license too.

We request our fellow bloggers to keep us updated on the latest news regarding LBN as the day progresses.

New twist in LBN Case

2006-10-17T10:07:00.000+05:30

The LBN Court Case has now taken a new twist and it seems that at the last hearing the Media Ministry has said that they will not allow LBN to operate without the media license, according to a news item in the Daily News today (17th Oct - Please refer post below). But LBN have said that they have the media license. Now if LBN has the media license then doesn't the Media Ministry know to whom they have issued licenses. This is seen by many as an attempt by the authorities and their henchmen to drag this case further.

Mr. President the authorities do not seem to be following any directives issued by you. Sir, please relieve these incompetent people of their duties and replace them with more efficient people.

We have not received any official communication from LBN regarding the last hearing and we hope that LBN will be able to clarify these new issues that are now cropping up.

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

TRC says it could grant licence to LBN - Daily News 17th October 2006

2006-10-17T10:05:00.000+05:30

COLOMBO: The Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (TRC) on Friday informed the Court of Appeal that it could grant Lanka Broad Band Network, a licence to operate a Satellite Television network.

The Bench comprised Justices K. Sripavan and Eric Basnayake.

President's Counsel Palitha Kumarasinghe for the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (TRC) informed the Court that President Mahinda Rajapaksa had approved its recommendation to grant the petitioner Lanka Broad Band Network Ltd. (LBN) to operate Satellite Television Network. The counsel also submitted that the Defence Ministry had given the security clearance to the petitioner.

However, President's Counsel D. S. Wijesinghe for Media Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa submitted that the petitioner still needed to obtain a media licence under the Rupavahini Corporation Act before commencing their operation.

However, the Counsel Sanjeewa Jayawardane for petitioner submitted that they were already in possesion of a media licence.

Petitioner LBN stated that the CID had sealed off its satellite TV transmission system illegally and unlawfully affecting a clientele of around 10,000. The petitioner sought to quash the alleged unlawful acts of the CID.

Sanjeewa Jayawardane appeared for the petitioner.

Additional Solicitor General Sathya Hettige PC appeared for the CID.

The case will be mentioned on October 25.

By Wasantha Ramanayake

LBN Court Case Postponed but there is good news

2006-10-13T14:22:00.000+05:30

The LBN Appeals Court Case has been postponed to October 25th but it seems that the license will be issued either today evening or on Monday. However we have not received confirmation from LBN regarding this matter.

It seems that once they receive the license they will have to forward it to the Magistrate's Court in order to resume operations.

However none of this information is confirmed and we are awaiting the confirmation from LBN. We would like to request all of our fellow bloggers to keep us updated on the latest regarding LBN as the days progress.

We hope that everything will be sorted out soon and LBN is back in action.

LBN Appeals Court Case today

2006-10-13T09:12:00.000+05:30

The LBN Appeals Court Case will be held today (Oct 13th). We are expecting the license to be granted today and for LBN to resume operations. We hope that authorities will grant the required licenses and allow LBN to operate from today.

Please update us on the time of the hearing as well as the result of the hearing as the day progresses.

LBN Appeals Court case tomorrow

2006-10-12T12:55:00.000+05:30

LBN will be having their Appeals Court hearing tomorrow (Oct 13th). According to LBN this has to be the final date. We have no reports on the time of the hearing as yet.

We sincerely hope that this will end tomorrow without any further postponement.

Please keep us updated on the time of tomorrow's hearing and any developments regarding LBN.