I have been a customer of Melita Cable since 1993 and very rarely have I had cause to complain.

But ever since Melita has conferred upon itself the title of "Official Broadcaster of the FIFA World Cup Germany 2006" (sic), it seems that they have devised a scheme to pass on some of the outlay for the rights onto us poor unsuspecting clients.

Since last January, and without having a modicum of decency to courteously inform its customers of anything, Melita has upped its charges handsomely. For example, it has scrapped its Basic tier of programmes (Lm4.11 per month) for a "new" Value tier (Lm5 per month), which has nothing new except the price - a whopping 22 per cent increase!

Melita also started to use the "rights" pretext to block sports transmissions on the free-to-air reception channels. We have already witnessed blank screens on Rai (during Under-21 and UEFA Cup matches) and La7 (Six-Nations Rugby). Come June, World Cup matches screened on Rai will be blocked and Melita Cable customers will have to subscribe to the Sports Channel to see the spectacle. As if this was not enough, to put further pressure on their customers, Melita have now announced that they have "secured" exclusive rights to air the UEFA Champions League and the Formula One Grand Prix Season.

Does this mean that Melita Cable is going to stop TVM from transmitting any more Champions League matches this year? Are they going to block Mediaset channels when they transmit Champions League matches? And will the same happen for the Formula One races?

Is this going to lead us to the ridiculous situation where sports enthusiasts are going to have to pay extra for sports events which up till now had been included in the Basic tier and the Family Pack?

And, wait for it, come March 1, the Sports Channel monthly rate will go up from Lm5.81 to Lm7.50 thank you, another whopping 30 per cent increase!

Come on Melita Cable! Is this the way to treat customers who have been supporting you for long years?