CAS: Govt seeks price details

The government has issued a directive to broadcasters, asking them to furnish the pricing and content details of each channel, free-to-air as well as pay, in various bouquets under the conditional access system.

"This will help the government get an idea of the costing and help consumers and multi-system operators draw up plans before the implementation of the CAS," a government official said.

The official said the move would also enable multi-system operators procure set-top boxes and distribute them in areas marked for the initial rollout.

It would also help the government ensure that consumers do not end up paying more under the new system, he added.

The directive, however, does not specify a deadline for the submission of the details. But, officials said if broadcasters failed to furnish these details by June 10, the government might bring out a legislation asking broadcasters to submit the required information.

Earlier, as a part of its efforts to ensure a consumer-friendly rollout, the information and broadcasting ministry had said broadcasting companies would not be allowed to offer pay channels as bouquets.

Instead, each channel would have to be individually priced and offered to consumers separately.

The ministry is trying its best to ensure that the migration to the CAS regime is smooth and consumers are not saddled with an additional financial burden.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had also asked Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to ensure that the CAS rollout did not hit the interests of consumers.

Subsequently, the government had also cut the duty on set-top boxes to 5 per cent from 50.8 per cent in an attempt to bring down the overall cost of moving on to the CAS regime.

The  ministry is under severe political pressure to postpone the CAS rollout.