Vizcaya folk hit P50 fee for Pac-May fight

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—Subscribers of a cable TV service provider here have complained about the added charges slapped on them by the company for airing the boxing bout between Filipino champion Manny Pacquiao and American Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 3.

Subscribers have assailed Cable Television Network Inc. (CTNI), a cable TV firm servicing Solano and Bayombong towns, for supposedly charging an additional P50 on top of their monthly bill, regardless if they watched the live broadcast.

“Why do they charge all their subscribers when they do not even know if we watched the fight? That is clearly profiteering,” said court employee Laiza Patricio, a resident of Solano.

A university professor, who asked not to be named in this report, said it was unjust for CTNI to force the payment on subscribers like her who do not watch boxing matches.

“The issue does not concern the amount but the deceitful manner by which this company tried to make a profit,” she said.

CTNI aired a live telecast of the bout on Channel 6 here, which saw undefeated Mayweather outscore Pacquiao in a unanimous but controversial decision.

It was also shown for free at the town gymnasiums in Solano and Bayombong, as well as in a number of restaurants and coffee shops to attract customers.

Complainants said they were surprised to find out last week that the P50 charge had been added to their P330 monthly subscription. “They never asked us if we want to have it aired or not because if they did, I would have said no,” said computer store owner Dije Gurung.

Allan de los Santos, CTNI operations manager, said CTNI is collecting P50 as subscribers’ share of company expenses on buying pay-per-view rights to the match.

“For six weeks, we showed an announcement on the community channel about the additional charges we will impose for airing this fight, including our contact numbers, in case they wanted to air their complaints. But none came, so we thought everything was okay,” De los Santos said. Melvin Gascon, Inquirer Northern Luzon