While they formed a five-member committee on Thursday to have a dialogue with the government, on Friday some operators wanted their names to be included. After a prolonged discussion, cable operators managed to settle on a eight-member committee. While five will be from Mumbai, the balance will represent the rest of Maharashtra. Representatives from the leading multiple system operators like SitiCable, INCableNet, Hathway and Win Cable are in the committee.

The cable forum will meet the three-member government committee to resolve the issue. The government has promised to arrive at a decision in eight days following the withdrawal of the two-day cable strike in Maharashtra. "We have decided neither to pay taxes nor be their collecting agent. The government has the details of television households in the state. Let them collect it directly," said Atul Saraf, a member of the committee and director of 7 Star.

Not all cable operators are united in this stance. "The government has a right to impose taxes. If it decides to take a confrontationist attitude, the unity of the operators will be exposed," said a cable operator.

The government wants to earn at least Rs 30 crore through entertainment tax, up from the current revenue of Rs 15 crore. It recently announced to hike the tax from operators by 100 per cent.

Meanwhile, Win Cable, a MSO on Wednesday submitted a memorandum, assuring the government of 100 per cent declaration of subscriber base. But the government has to ensure the security of all the connections declared by individual cable operators. "A suitable Act needs to be enacted at the state level to guarantee operators that their declared subscribers can not be serviced by any other operator," the memorandum said. The operators, in return, will forward and declare their connections to the government and pay entertainment tax on that base.