Customers have rejected the conditional access system, which if implemented would be a boon for consumers, multi-system operators and broadcasters, according to Kunal Dasgupta, chief executive officer of Sony Entertainment Television India Pvt Ltd.
"CAS, to be introduced on July 14, has been postponed mainly due to distancing from the rollout by consumers," Dasgupta said, delivering the keynote address at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry's conference on `Indian Cable and Satellite Sector', in Mumbai.
The price of set-top boxes was one of the deterrent factors, with users expecting cable operators and TV channels to hike prices, once CAS was implemented, he said.
Moreover, most of the popular regional channels went on a free-to-air mode, which also hampered the rollout of CAS, he said, adding, "Customers were not missing out on entertainment."
Channels, along with MSOs and cable operators, should start an awareness drive before implementing CAS, he said.
In his speech, Reliance Infocomm president Amit Khanna said the country is on threshold of a digital revolution and it should do everything possible to cash in on this.
"We had missed the industrial revolution and should not let this opportunity bypass us," he said, adding, "We should seize it."
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