Issues related to the conditional access system continues to remain hazy even as September 1 -- the proposed date of its roll out -- closes in, with broadcasters on Thursday sticking to old rates of pay channels, stakeholders still wrangling and the government leaving it to market forces to resolve everything.

Also Read The New Cable TV Regime

Hopes that pay channel rates would be made more "consumer-friendly" for the CAS regime were shattered as broadcasters quoted the old a la carte rates at a meeting of the Implementation Committee in New Delhi headed by Vijay Singh, additional secretary, ministry of information and broadcasting.

As per the rates quoted by the broadcasters earlier, five popular channels -- Sony, Star Plus, ZEE, ESPN and Star Sports -- and the free-to-air channels would be available for around Rs 250.

The MRP given by broadcasters are:

Channel	Price
Star Plus	Rs 24
Star Movies	Rs 20
Star Gold	Rs 10
Star World	Rs 14
Sony	Rs 20
ESPN	Rs 29
Star Sports	Rs 29
Zee	Rs 25
Zee Cinema	Rs 20
Cartoon	Rs 20
CNBC	Rs 20
Zee MGM	Rs 15
Trendz	Rs 10
Zee English	Rs 10
Zee News	Rs 10
Reality	Rs 5
CNN	Rs 5

Meanwhile, some cable operators are now unhappy over the Rs-72 tariff notified for the basic tier of free-to-air channels, but the government has rejected their demand saying it would not consider reviewing it at least till next year.

Star's Peter Mukherjea told reporters after the two-hour meeting that broadcasters were coming out with promotional offers, which include proposals like giving pay channels free for a fixed period and "greater penetration better margins".

Singh said over 200,000 set-top boxes, which would be required for viewing pay channels, are now available in the market.

The total cost of all these channels taken separately works out to Rs 340 (The table given does not mention some of the channels as their individual prices were not available). Along with the FTA channel cost of Rs 72 plus taxes, plus MSO charges, the total cost may work out to around Rs 500 a month.

However, if the various channels were taken as bouquets, then the prices fell drastically to around Rs 175 for pay channels, plus Rs 72 for FTA channels plus taxes, and the MSO charges. This too could work out to around Rs 300 a month.

Asked how much a consumer would pay in the CAS regime, which rolls out zone-wise in the four metros, he said, "It would be around what it is at present. If a consumer chooses fewer pay channels, he may have to shell out less than he is now."

The multi-system operators resent that there is no revenue sharing agreement with the broadcasters and it is still not clear what a pay channel will cost.

Zee's Jawahar Goel announced offering all pay channels for Rs 128, a claim refuted by Mukherjea who said Star had not entered into any agreement with Siti Cable to provide its signals on the Headends In The Sky platform.

"He (Goel) must be talking of pay channels minus Star," he said adding Star had not entered into an agreement with any of the HITS players.

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.

The Star bouquet was quoted at Rs 50 while the a la carte rates for all its pay channels totalled Rs 100. The Sony bouquet came to Rs 41, Zee Rs 62 and ESPN Rs 22.

The total of the a la carte rates of pay channels came to Rs 340 but this is minus the MSO's margins.

Along with the Rs 72 for free-to-air channels and the margins the total may touch Rs 500. However, the bouquets total upto Rs 175, which along with Rs 72 and the margins would also go beyond Rs 250.

The government and MSOs had dubbed as "too high" the pay channel rates quoted by broadcasters including Star, Sony and ESPN and were hoping to see a "reasonable" rate card.

Anil Param, a Mumbai cable operator, said CAS in its present form was not consumer-friendly and threatened that it will not be implemented in the city. He said the rates should be stabilised at Rs 200.

The government, which has no powers to impose a cap on rates over the broadcasters, admits there are several unresolved issues but hopes that market forces will take care of them.

The I and B Ministry will watch the situation for a fortnight after CAS rolls out on September one before notifying the next zone.