The CAS brought in by amending the Cable TV
Act of 1995 during the Winter Session of Parliament makes it mandatory
in the areas notified by the Government that all pay channels
would be transmitted through an addressable system. This would
be possible by installing a small box called Set Top Box (STB)
at the consumer’s place. However, for viewing only the Free to
Air (FTA) channels the box will not be required.
The Government would prescribe from time to
time the maximum amount to be paid by the subscriber for the basic
service tier of FTA and the number of free channels. The Government
would also determine the cost for the FTA brought for different
States, cities and areas of the country. The Ministry of Information
and Broadcasting has constituted a Task Force to determine the
above criteria and the cost. The Task Force has representatives
of consumers, NGOs, cable operators, multi system operators, STB
manufacturers and broadcasters. The Bureau of Indian Standards
has already notifed the standards for the STBs.
The subscriber is not required to change his
TV set. BIS has already notified the standards for the Set Top
Boxes. The cost of STBs would be determined by the market forces
depending on the demand and their availability. The sharing of
the cost of STB among the broadcasters, multi-system operators
(MSOs), cable operators and consumers would also depend on the
market forces. The cable operators shall have to submit a report
to the Central Government in the prescribed form the information
regarding the number of total subscribers, subscription rates
and the number of subscribers receiving programmes transmitted
in the basic tier or particular programme or set of programmes
transmitted through pay channels. The violation of the CAS provisions
has been made a cognizable offence for an effective enforcement
of the scheme.
The Government had been monitoring the implementation
of the Cable Television Act 1995 and also taking corrective measures
as and when considered necessary. In the recent months, there
had been a great public outcry and complaints from subscribers,
residents’ welfare associations as well as Members of Parliament
against frequent and arbitrary hikes in cable subscription charges
and lack of transparency in the cable distribution system. The
rates were arbitrarily increased by broadcasters and cable service
providers in almost an area-specific monopolistic distribution
system. There was no choice left with the consumers and they have
had to accept to the total bouquet and at the cost demanded by
the cable operators. There was no legal or administrative way
in which the Government could intervene and regulate the subscription
charges or ask the cable service providers to charge for only
those channels which the consumer wishes to view.
The consumer had been the worst victim of
the blame game indulged in by the stakeholders - the broadcasters,
MSOs and the cable operators. The cable operators blame the pay
channels for the arbitrary increase in rates, the pay channels/MSOs
complain that the cable operators report lesser number of consumers,
thus depriving them of their due revenue. The statistics of viewership
are rendered totally unreliable and the advertisement rates for
individual channels to get aritfically inflated. The under-reporting
of consumers also results in sizeable evasion of entertainment
tax as well as income tax due to undeclared money.
There are about four crore cable TV homes in
the country. Over 280 channels have footprints over India. Out
of about 80 channels delivered to the viewers, 31 are pay channels
and 49 free-to-air channels. MSOs control about 60 per cent of
total cable homes. Average subscription paid by the viewer is
about Rs. 150 to 300 in big cities.
With the implementation of the Conditional Access
System the entire transmission system of TV signals through the
cable would become transparent. It would not only protect the
consumers against frequent and arbitrary hikes in cable rates
and undesirable transmission of channels but also make the advertisement
rates realistic and plug the loopholes in the collection of entertainment
tax. The consumer would be able to block the reach of unwanted
channels, which he felt embarrassing to view in a family.
Though there are demands from various State
governments and consumer associations asking for extension of
CAS to more cities other than the four metros, the Government
would wait for the successful implementation in the first phase
before extending it further. (PIB Features)
*Information Officer, PIB,
New Delhi
