channels went off air.

A company insider said Assistant General Manager Debbie DeSilva would be taking her case to the Human Rights Commission while Chief Engineer Eddie Palacious had left because of disputes with management.

The insider said the crisis was just the start of something.

He said: "The entire company is just one big dispute, it's drama after drama.

There will be further problems very soon.'' General Manager Carl Musson refused to comment about the loss of two key staff.

He said: "We don't talk about personnel issues.'' When asked about the loss of the channels Mr. Musson said: "It's one of those things, it's a technical problem and we are working on it.'' An on-screen message last night said the channels would be out from 7 p.m. to 12 a.m. as transmitting equipment was relocated from Mills Creek to Cablevision's HQ in Laffan Street, Hamilton. But by mid afternoon yesterday the channels were already down. The missing stations were the most popular ones including HBO, Showtime, AMC and A&E.

The insider said staff were unhappy about how recruitment and promotions were handled.

He said: "This company has a habit of bringing people from outside when the local people already there are far superior.'' He said staff were unhappy at the role of Computer Cabling Systems who had originally been brought into sort out a work backlog but were now tackling fresh jobs.

"We know they are being trained so if we had industrial action we would be fired and they would replace us.

"They don't want to deal with people -- so the only way they can do that is to eliminate all the staff and use outside contractors.

"But there won't be industrial action. This latest crisis has nothing to do with the company's ill treatment of the employees -- it's between management.'' The source said Mr. Palacious clashes with new General Manager Mr. Musson had led to his departure.

And Cablevision customers waiting for minor maintenance work will lose out from the loss of two key managers said the insider.

"We lost two very important people and they are going to be very difficult to replace.

"Before we were only dealing with fires, from now on we will only be dealing with explosions.''