Cable television operators owing allegiance to Cable Operators’ Guild here have cut down the monthly cable TV subscription fee to Rs. 125 with effect from October.“With competition hotting up in the industry through direct-to-home (DTH) services, we have decided to reduce our profit to keep afloat in the business,” guild president A. Pandi said.Over 100 operators, who get cable TV signal from the Sumangali Cable Vision (SCV), decided on the issue at a meeting here on Wednesday. “We will give almost all the popular channels, including the Sun bouquet, Star Movie package, Sony package and Sports channels,” he said.The operators have been charging Rs. 100 to Rs. 180 in different localities. “We want to make it uniform among the operators with the SCV,” he said.“The biggest threat we face is from the DTH. Some of our operators are losing 10 to 15 subscribers a month to the DTH service,” said Mr. Pandi. After the launch of Big TV, a DTH from the Reliance Anil Dirubai Ambani group, other DTH service providers had made their services more attractive. The reduction of monthly subscription would arrest subscribers’ exodus from cable TV operators, he hoped.Stating that the Arasu Cable TV Corporation was yet to take off in the city, Mr. Pandi said that the guild welcomed the Government venture into the cable TV service. However, he said that the operators wanted the Corporation to get signals of all the popular channels to make it popular. The guild also sought business security for long-time cable TV operators.