If the proposed rollout of the conditional access system happens as per schedule, then on September 1 parts of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and the entire city of Chennai will come under this new cable TV regime.
Though the government insists that CAS will be 'consumer-friendly,' a recent survey conducted in Chennai gives a contrary picture.
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While only 10-12 per cent of cable TV viewers are willing to shell out money for the pay channels once CAS comes into effect, 50 per cent users insist they will keep only the free-to-air channels.
This has made many cable operators jittery. But both cable operators and consumers agree on one point though: the government is trying to satisfy only the broadcasters.
Most cable operators of Chennai feel that the fixed 'Rs 72-plus-taxes for all channels' formula is not very practical.
Yet, select Chennai operators are already charging much less for the free-to-air channels, even as most cable operators from the other parts of the country have refused to offer lower rates to the consumers.
A Saji of Adyar Cable Network, who is giving the free-to-air channels for just Rs 30 said: "I am not concerned about CAS or the pay channels. At present, I am going to give only free-to-air channels. Once CAS is implemented, more and more people will opt for FTA channels, I am certain about this. But, at present, everybody is confused. Nobody knows which channel will be available free and which will go pay, and how much they will have to shell out."
Most Tamil channels -- like Sun TV, Jaya TV -- are available free to the subscribers right now. The pay channel Raj TV has now also decided to go free-to-air once CAS gets implemented.
Raj TV CEO said it plans to go pay only when enough set-top boxes are available in Chennai.
S Sivakumaran, general secretary of the Confederation of Cable TV Subscribers Association, also feels that CAS is anti-consumer.
"There are too many loopholes in the system. There is no regulatory mechanism at all. If I have a grievance against a cable operator, where will I go? Ravi Shankar Prasad, the (I&B) minister, says market conditions automatically pave way for regulatory mechanism, which is really a funny statement," says Sivakumaran.
"We were getting all the channels for Rs 150-200 without any set-top box. What was the necessity to bring in such a system? We can understand if the government came up with DTH (direct-to-home television), but not this!" he says.
According to M B Nirmal of the Confederation of Cable TV Subscribers Association: "If the interests of the consumers are of utmost importance then the government should have consulted them. But so far, they have not done so."
"There should have been a public hearing where a cross-section of the people could air their views. They are consulting the cable TV operators, the broadcasters but not the consumers. We can't understand this. The scenario was already bad with cable operators collecting an exorbitant amount of money and now the situation has worsened," says Nirmal.
Nirmal feels that the new system is only to satisfy the broadcasters. "There are free channels and pay channels in many countries but the pay channels do not carry any advertisements."
"Here, the pay channels also have numerous ads. The broadcasters want the best of both worlds. Anyway, the scenario is totally confusing and nobody knows what the rates are going to be. That is why we tell all the subscribers not to take any hasty decisions."
As a matter of fact four subscribers' associations in Chennai have already installed dishes and started giving FTA channels to its members for Rs 60.
However, there are those like Jayashree of Skylark Cable TV, who feels that CAS would ultimately benefit all the concerned parties -- the customers, operators, and the broadcasters.
The members of the Joint Action Committee of the Federation of Chennai City Cable TV Operators went on a day's fast in late July to demand the immediate implementation of CAS.
Kayal Ilavarasu, speaking on behalf of the disgruntled Cable TV Operators Association, said: "The government should implement CAS as early as possible. It will bring in transparency. We have no problem in implementing the system but we feel the government may postpone the date once again," he said.
"It is good for us even if our customers prefer only the FTA channels. It is the broadcasters who go on increasing the fee that make our lives miserable and we have to be answerable to the customers," Shankar of Flash Satellite Cable Systems lamented.
Pointing out that under the CAS regime, a subscriber would have to shell out around Rs 450 for the same number of channels that they get for around Rs 210, the Cable TV Subscribers Association said it was "100 per cent anti-subscriber."
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