The Hindu Business Line : Ministry may denotify CAS

THE Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry is likely to back the recommendation made by the broadcast regulator, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on deferring the implementation of the conditional access system (CAS) in Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai.

It is likely to come up with a fresh notification denotifying CAS in these four metros.

The Ministry is seeking legal opinion before taking a final decision on the fate of CAS. "The Delhi High Court in December had stated that CAS be implemented on an experimental basis. We would have to look at the TRAI's recommendation in the light of the High Court Order," said Government sources.

They added that a fresh notification would have to be issued if CAS were to be put off and a decision is expected in the next few days. This would effectively mean that CAS would not come into play in the metros.

The TRAI had recommended that the I&B Ministry could either denotify the July notification on implementation of CAS in the four metros or defer it for three months. It had said that a number of issues relating to the stakeholders on various issues related to individual channel rates, revenue share and auditing systems had remained unresolved.

It felt that the CAS was meant to bring down the monthly subscription bill paid by consumers. However, this has not happened. Hence, the TRAI had said that it would need about three months to sort out the problems.

The implementation of the CAS has been mired in controversy for over a year. The difference between the stakeholders — cable service providers and the broadcasters - caused confusion and led to the intervention of the Prime Minister's Office.