PMO steps in to untangle CAS

With conditional access system still in disarray less than a fortnight before its implementation, the Prime Minister's Office is understood to have called the broadcasters on Wednesday and discussed the issue.

The meeting comes just two days after the government described as "on the higher side" the rates of pay channels quoted by the broadcasters at a meeting with Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

In the first meeting with the broadcasters on the issue, media advisor to the information and broadcasting minister and additional secretary in the PMO Sudhendra Kulkarni met Peter Mukherjee (Star), Manu Sahni (ESPN), Kunal Dasgupta (Sony) and Deepak Shourie (Discovery), sources said.

Zee was not called for the meeting.

The details of the meeting were, however, not immediately known.

Prasad has met Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on CAS twice and was directed to ensure that the regime was consumer friendly. The minister said all channels would be available for Rs 200, a promise that seems far from reality going by the broadcasters' rates.

The total of rates quoted by the broadcasters was much higher than Rs 200.

The MRP rates given by the broadcasters were Star Plus (Rs 24), Sony (Rs 20), ESPN (Rs 29) and Star Sports (Rs 29). While Star Plus and Star Movies together have been priced at Rs 44, Set Max, Sony and Discovery combined will cost Rs 44 and ESPN and Star Sports Rs 32.