Parliament on Tuesday gave its approval to a Bill seeking to provide cable TV subscribers with a minimum number of free-to-air channels at a reasonable cost while empowering the government to install addressable systems for viewing pay channels.

The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2002, seeking to amend the 1995 Act, already passed by the Lok Sabha, was approved by Rajya Sabha after Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj assured the House that this Bill does not seek to regulate programme content on television.

Allaying members' fears that the government wanted to regulate content being shown on television through this Bill, Swaraj said, "I am unhappy that the body being proposed for content regulation is stuck because of the delay in passing the Convergence Bill."

Also, the government has no intention to specify channels to be aired under this Bill, she said.

Denying Opposition's contention that this Bill will become redundant once the Convergence Bill is passed, Swaraj said the Bill will, in fact, be subsumed into the Convergence Bill and has been brought since the latter is getting delayed.

The minister said through the Bill the government would decide the maximum amount which free-to-air channels can charge from a subscriber, but that subscription of pay channels will be left to the broadcasters.

Swaraj said the government has sought only three rights through this Bill- determining the number of basic players, the genre of programming to be shown and the amount.

On whether set-top-boxes will be affordable to the common man, the minister said as per estimates by the Consumer Electronics and TV Manufacturers Association, while one lakh (100,000) such boxes will cost Rs 2,500 each, 10 lakh (1 million) of them will cost only Rs 1500 each, adding the country is estimated to have over 3.5 crore (35 million) cable households.

"We all know that initially the cost of such products is indeed high but as demand grows, they become very affordable. Take the case of cell phones. I believe set-top boxes will soon become affordable," Swaraj said.

No particular technology has been mandated for use of this system--either analog or digital can be used--as per the provisions of this Bill, she added.

Also, the Bureau for Indian Standards has specified standards for both these types of technologies.

Addressing members' concern that channels like MTV and FTV were beaming programmes unsuited to Indian sensibilities, she said the Bill will address the problem effectively by providing regulation by choice.

The government on Tuesday also assured Lok Sabha it would take effective steps for revival of sick industries and check cheap imports and illegal trade even as the House passed a Bill seeking creation of a revival fund and a National Company Law Tribunal.

Winding up a debate on the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2001, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh said the Revival and Rehabilitation Fund proposed to be created would be used for interim payment of workmen's dues besides revival and rehabilitation of sick units.

"It is wrong to conclude that the Bill is aimed at winding up sick units and not reviving them", he said.

Seeking to allay apprehensions about unfair competition from China and dumping of cheap goods, he said the government is armed with anti-dumping duty, which has been quite effective in checking cheap imports.

Asserting that trade between India and China has been consistently favourable towards India for the past couple of years, the minister said smuggling, particularly along the borders with Nepal, is being checked by creating more customs centres and check posts.

Singh assured the members that effective steps would be taken by the government to protect the interests of the labour force, while every care has been taken to reduce delay in the process of revival.

The Bill, incorporating most of the amendments suggested by the Parliamentary Standing Committee, was passed by a voice vote.