CAS

India is a country where people are accustomed to live with the things more familiar to them and they are often hesitant in switching over to new things or adaptation of developed technology in any area.CAS is one such area which inspite of all efforts by the Govt. ,through legal amendments in the telephone Regulatory Authority of India Act 1997(as amended inon 9.1.2004),by setting up commitees and task force, it could be made possible to implement in a very few Metro cities and in only one area of south Delhi in Delhi ,the capital city of the country.

However it has been felt by one and all that cable TV is the most unregulated industry.Pay channels  in the country ,initially came as free- to- air channels but after 1995, these free channels ,increasingly became pay channels leading to rising consumer bills.In developed countries, pay television came along with Set Top Boxes but pattern of development in the industry in India is very different. Broadcasters provide a bundle of channels to cable TV operators who either take and carry the entire bundle or carry nothing..Besides limiting the choice to what the cable operator offers, the consumer has no choice in most cases to even change the operator. Prices for consumers tend to increase as and when new pay  channel is launched Hence there is a need to bring uniformity in their functioning through strongly enforced laws so that consumers at large meet the equivalent treatment throughout the country in the hands of cable operators who at present are sweetly indulging into monopoly . For checking them from such unfair trade practices ,we have sufficient laws but first we have to reach to this conclusion what exactly are their allowed functions and what should not be permitted. If such parameters are set,things will take a shape and it will be easy to target the improvement areas.   

            The basic problem in our country is that there is a wide divergence between different areas of the country in terms of viewership habits and preferences .It would be difficult to mandate a national solution that is appropriate for all the parts of the country. Different strategies can work in different areas. Therefore it should be ensured that the state govt are taken  into confidence and consulted at every step.

            Broadcasting and cable services came under the perview of Telecom regulatory authority of India [TRAI or Authority] with effect from 9.1.2004after the amendment to clause [k] of sub section [1] of section 2 of the telecom regulatory authority of India act [TRAI Act] 1997 as amended. Govt also issued an order on 9.1.2004 under section 11[d]of the TRAI Act which mandated TRAI:

§  to make recommendations regarding terms and conditions on which the ‘Addressable System’ shall be provided to customers and

§  To set  the parameters for regulating maximum time for advertisement in pay channels as well as in other channels.

§   to specify standard norms for revision of rates of pay channels as well as other channels including interim measures.

                 TRAI had carried out a process of consultation with the stakeholders by floating a detailed consultation and holding a series of meetings with various stakeholders. A committee was constituted consisting of representatives of states, under the chairman ship of Seceratry TRAI to consider various issues in regulating Cable TV. The inputs received in the process of  consultation have ben examined and taken into account while making the recommendations International practices have also been studied .A survey was also commissioned through M/S IMRB to study the characterstics of Indian market.Directions for regulatory intervention have been issued on the bases of the findings of the survey and the objective of the regulation would be as follows:

§  To promote and facilitate competition amongst channels ,operators and plateforms.

§  Consumers should have the freedom to choose their content and their operator/plateform and shall be at liberty to exit from one operator to another

§  The other plateform could be DTH or other media like telephone lines  which are in fact permitted even at present.

§  Method of providing choice to the consumers through the medium of traps.

§  Conditional Access System as proposed by the task force set up in Sep.2001.meaning thereby introduction of CAS with Set Top Boxes.

                      The question which is very glaring even today is yet to be studied as to why this scheme CAS could not be implemented dispite the advantages of CAS.By opting for CAS,the direct benefit to the consumer is that he is able to choose the channels of his choice. He can either opt eor the package of FTA[free to air] channels or take his choice of pay channels. It is observed in the process of investigation to the situation that:

§  The state Govt had not been consulted at decision making stage and so there was not much support to the system at implementation stage.

§  There are certain areas where consumers were getting services at nominal prices With implementation of CAS the consumer price for pay channels were actually increasing instead of decreasing.It infact benifitted only FTA subscribers.

§  STB’s were not easily available on rent .Consumers apprehended that their STB would be of no use when they change residence or service provider.

§  Most Broadcasters,MSO’s and Cable operators were not able to arrive at revenue share arrangements amongst themselves.

§  Some MSO’s had had made arrangements of sale/rental of STB’s but this information could not get wide publicity.There was also price variation of STB’s if at all they were made available by some MSO’s

§  There was uncertainty about continuity of the CAS scheme.

               Regarding medium of traps,this was brought up against the digital Set  Top Boxes.which costs around Rs 5000/-,a trap is cost around Rs 100 to 500 and also allows the consumers to have a choice as to  whether or not to watch pay channels either in full or in one or two packages.But this system faces a major problem of piracy,bypassing,violating and hacking.There is no transparent method of accounting the number of consumers having access to the particular channel and it results in dispute over revenue sharing amongst the service providers.

               The regulation of the cable TV industrywas converted into the Cable Television Networks[Regulaton] Act[hereinafter called ‘Cable Act’] on March 25^th 1995.The cable act  specifies ashereunder:

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