The Hindu Business Line : Consumers irked at monthly CAS bill, says survey

CHENNAI may be the only saviour for the Government as far as implementation of the conditional access system (CAS) is concerned, but the major concern of consumers continues to be the high monthly bill.

According to an Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry-NFO survey, in Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai, the cost of set-top boxes (STBs) and having to pay individual channel rates have emerged as a "worrisome issue".

However, most of the respondents found CAS acceptable, but wanted more information.

The consumers preferred to buy STBs instead of hiring one. Also, the unanimous view across metros was that STBs should be priced below Rs 2,000 or should be available for a monthly rental of Rs 50.

On the advantages of CAS, consumers are happy at the thought of paying only for those channels which they would like to watch - some terming it as "the right to choose" and the "freedom to choose" - manifested as transfer of power from the cable-operators hands to the consumer.

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