The Hindu Business Line : Uncertainty prevails over CAS rollout

Differing views
The broadcasters are waiting for the cable industry to finalise the prices of set-top-boxes
But the cable industry is of the view that broadcasters should come up with both a la carte and bouquet pricing first

New Delhi , April 13

A month after the Delhi High Court ruled that the Conditional Access System (CAS) must be implemented in select parts of Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai, uncertainty continues to prevail.

While the Government is expected to submit a status report to the Court next week, broadcasters and cable service providers have not yet reached a consensus on issues related to pricing or rollout.

According to sources in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, "We have had several rounds of consultation and will be giving details to the Court. But the timing of the actual rollout will have to decided."

There has been some confusion on the deadline.

The Court had passed a verbal order on March 10, but the certified copy was issued much later.

Also, a section of the industry is of the view that the implementation proceedings have to be initiated in a month's time and the execution could happen later.

"The Government could seek an extension of 250 days for putting CAS in place," said sources.

But differences between the cable service providers and broadcasters persist on the issue of pricing of the channels.

"The broadcast regulator (TRAI) has frozen the prices, which needs to be lifted.

Also, we are waiting for the cable industry to finalise the prices of set-top boxes first," said an official in a broadcasting company.

The cable industry is of the view that broadcasters should come up with both a la carte and bouquet pricing first. "How will we be able to sell our boxes and implement CAS without this?" said Ms Roop Sharma, President, Cable Operators' Federation of India.

Broadcasters' suggestions

One of the suggestions made at the meeting is to fix a maximum retail price to ensure that broadcasters do not charge very high rates for standalone channels.

The Indian Broadcasting Foundation, the apex industry group, has said quoting a TRAI recommendation that it is against price controls in areas which have addressable systems.

It has also suggested that carriage fee paid by broadcasters to cable operators should be stopped as channels would be able to collect subscription revenues.

Another area of concern for broadcasters is piracy, especially by the smaller cable operators.

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