Our Plan negotiated a Simple Multiple Dwelling Unit (MDU) Agreement with Austar (now Foxtel) in 2010, and even though that process was akin to dealing with a Government bureaucracy when I tried to incorporate some specific conditions with regard to the positioning of visible components such as the satellite dish and conduit, those conditions and a site plan were eventually included.
I was originally advised by Austar that the MDU Agreement was in place to negate the requirement for them to approach the Executive Committee on every occasion that a Proprietor wished to subscribe to their service, although they would require the written agreement of those Proprietors or their Agent (property manager) if their potential subscriber was a tenant.
So that’s how it’s worked for our Plan, where seven (7) additional installations comprising three (3) additional satellite dishes have since occurred, the most recent being last July, and on each occasion the (different) contractors have complete the installations precisely in accordance with the specific conditions of our MDU Agreement.
Clearly your Plan has had a different experience, and whilst I don’t know the form its MDU Agreement I imagine they’re pretty standard, and ours states at Clause 2 that “Austar will repair any damage caused by any deliberate act or omission, or negligence of Austar’s employees or agents during its access to the premises including all Common Areas…..” and where “access” is defined in Clause 1 to comprise “inspecting the premises for the purposes of the installation of equipment” and “to connect equipment to units”.
I’d conclude that the original Application to which your post refers likely resulted in an MDU Agreement , and under that there’s no requirement for Foxtel to seek the consent of your Executive Committee prior to any further installations, BUT that Foxtel (in your example) is responsible for rectifying damage of the types to which you refer.
So you shouldn’t interfere with residents’ installations, but as the conduit etc is Foxtel’s property and it was their “employees or agents” who caused damage to and defaced the Common Property during the various installations, your Owners Corporation or its Strata Managers should persist with its approach to Foxtel and request that it rectifies the damage that they caused; photographic evidence and an approach to their customer relations people would help.