New era in TV viewing begins tomorrow with CAS

New Delhi, Dec 30: A new era in the delivery of TV services ushers in tomorrow when the Conditional Access System, which is a digital mode of transmitting TV channels through a set-top box (STB) starts working in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata.

To begin with, CAS will be introduced only in selected areas of the three metros. The system is already in place in Chennai.

In the CAS regime, the transmission signals are encrypted and viewers will need a set-top box to receive and decrypt the signal.

The STB is required to watch only pay channels, not free-to-air channels. While most of the entertainment and sports channels are to be paid for, almost all the news channels are free like Doordarshan.

Though at present there is not much enthusiam among the people about the CAS, and consequently the demand for STBs, there is likely to be a rush for the new system after it is in place and also when people stop getting their favourite channels in case they don't have the STBs, industry analysts assume.

Under the existing system, there was no choice for the consumer as the local operator became one's service provider by default. The absence of any competitor had resulted in poor quality of service.

Residents in the CAS area feel that operators had been hiking monthly charges arbitrarily and are more than one connection from one point.

They won't now have to pay for the channels they do not wish to watch.

However, there are several opinions on whether the monthly bill will increase or go down in a CAS area.

Presently, Cable TV subscribers get both free to air (FTA) and pay channels at a rate fixed by the cable operator.

Rates vary from city to city and even in areas and localities within a city ranging from Rs 150 to Rs 400.

The broadcasters have packaged their channels into bouquets and thus, the subscriber is forced to pay even for those channels which he does not want to view.

The Multi-System Operators (MSOs) and cable operators blame the Broadcasters for hiking the price of their pay channel bouquets resulting in frequent rise in subscription rates.

The Broadcasters blame the cable operators for under-reporting the number of subscribers resulting in loss of revenue to the broadcasters and also evasion of entertainment tax, service tax and even income tax.

In order to protect the consumers from arbitrary and frequent increase of subscription rates, the Government amended the Cable Television Act to make the viewing of pay channels through an addressable system (Conditional Access System). The new system was to come into force in 2003 itself, but was deferrred due to opposition from the people.

But the government notified the implementation of CAS this year after the High Court directed it to do so in a decision on a petition on March 10.

CAS advocate say that it would bring transparency in the system, since accurate figures of subscriber base would be available and broadcasters would not take the under-reporting plea for hikes in rates of pay channels.

The issue of under declaration by the cable operators shall vanish as periodic information has to be submitted by them to the Government regarding connectivity. That information shall be available to broadcasters also.

But there are many who contend that the monthly bill may go up under CAS if people want to watch a variety of channels. Under the existing system, the consumer were getting about 200 channels for a fixed amount and so had great options, but under CAS they will have to limit their choice if they want to control their monthly bills as almost all the entertainment channels are now pay channels costing Rs five each per month plus the service charges. If they do not limit them, they will end up paying for more.

There are two views on the pricing of channels. One is that the broadcasters may eventually decide to make their channels free to air as they lose their viewers who would prioritise pay channels under the CAS.

The other view is that bills may go up as the freeze in tariff (Rs 77 for free to air channels and Rs five each for pay channels) may cease to exist in future, as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has said that it will review and revise the rates after studying the situation after one year.

Moreover, there are also doubts on the justification of the CAS itself in an age when 'Direct to Home(DTH) techology is very much established in the country.

But some opine that in a country like India, with a huge cable network, it is not feasible to shift all the traffic to DTH.

''The experiences of the developed countries show that both DTH and CAS can co-exist,''said an Information and Broadcasting Ministry official.

The CAS regime will also have to compete in future from the Internet Protocol (IP) TV which provides both television and broadband services on telephone lines.

UNI