Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Dec 30, 2003
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Dec 30, 2003 |
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Industry & Economy
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Radio/TV Pay channels may cost more Our Bureau
New Delhi , Dec. 29 THE new year may see residents in non-CAS areas having to dole out a higher monthly cable bill. According to indications provided by the cable industry, the rates of most of the pay bouquets are set to go up as broadcasters are renewing their contracts with cable operators. The price of the Zee-Turner bouquet and Sony-Discovery's One Alliance are likely to go up from Rs 55 to Rs 75, while ESPN is likely to be priced at Rs 40 and TEN Sports at Rs 24. Star, which recently added The History Channel to its bouquet, is priced at Rs 45. But if a cable operator provides 58.5 per cent higher declaration, the rate would come down to Rs 27. However, in areas where CAS is being implemented, consumers would have to pay Rs 72 plus taxes for the basic free-to-air tier and pay the individual channel rates for the subscription-driven channels. "Each broadcaster seems to have come up with their own plans. Star, for instance, is asking for higher declarations if the lower rate is to be charged and ESPN-Star Sports wants consumers to sign up for the whole year," said cable industry sources. Meanwhile, most of the Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) in Delhi have been opposing the implementation of CAS. Several of them have asked the residents not to opt for set-top boxes (STBs) and to wait till the chaos surrounding CAS is cleared. The vacation Bench of the Delhi High Court has also said that CAS be implemented on an experimental basis for three months to see whether the system is actually beneficial to the consumer. The Government, on its part, has said that it would not intervene unless the system hurts the consumer's interest.
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