The Hindu Business Line : IBF stands by CAS deadline

DESPITE differences between free-to-air broadcasters and pay channels, the board of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) on Monday reiterated that the July 14 deadline for implementation of a conditional access system would be met.

Top officials of various channels, including Mr Subhash Chandra of Zee Telefilms, Mr Peter Mukherjea of Star India and Mr Kunal Dasgupta of Sony, met Mr Somnath Chatterjee, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Information Technology, last week to discuss CAS. While seeking a deferment in the implementation of CAS, the officials had taken up the issue of bringing down the import duties on set-top boxes and a staggered rollout of CAS.

However, there were differences among broadcasters. The CEO of Prasar Bharati, Mr K.S. Sarma, who is also President of IBF, told the committee that he was kept in the dark about the meeting. He also opposed the city-wise rollout and said availability of set-top boxes was not an issue.

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