Date:29/12/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/12/29/stories/2003122908530400.htm

Other States - New Delhi

CAS is here to stay: Centre

New Delhi Dec. 28 . Defending Conditional Access System (CAS) in the Delhi High Court, the Central Government has asserted that CAS is purely viewer-friendly and has been brought into force with a view to protect the interests of consumers.

Responding to a PIL alleging that the system was not for the consumer's benefit or economically viable for them, the Union, through Government Standing Counsel Sanjay Jain, in its reply said all problems/confusion regarding CAS would gradually settle down with the passage of time.

``For example, in Chennai, the consumers appear to be happy with the introduction of CAS in as much as a few Pay Channels have switched over to Free-To-Air category,'' the Government said in the reply.

In fact, CAS was a world-wide phenomenon of viewing pay channels and its main advantage lies in enabling the consumer to pay only for the channels he views, it said.

The system also helps in obtaining correct figures of number of subscribers which, in turn, governs the ratings of channels, fixation of pay channel prices by broadcasters, determination of advertisement rates and revenue accruals to the Government, it added.

It was also stated that digital system was based on the latest technology available in the world, which provides a platform for various services like internet and voice capabilities.

The Government allayed fears that new technologies like fibre optics and Direct-To-Home would make CAS/STB obsolete.

In the developed and developing countries, both DTH and cable co-exist, besides DTH, which was yet to take off, may not have so many number of FTA channels and would be more expensive compared to cable service, hence may not be very popular, it was stated. -- UNI