CAS Bill and Reaction

The CAS Bill [Cable TV (Networks) Regulation Amendment Bill 2002] was passed by Parliament in 2002, making it mandatory to have an STB to view paid channels. The idea was to bring in transparency and curtail underreporting by cable operators, which, as per the NRS 2005, brought losses to broadcasters and the government in form of taxes to the tune of Rs 8,300 crore. It also meant that subscribers could choose the channels they wanted.

CAS was originally supposed to come into effect in Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai from July 2003. Apart from the paid channels, cable operators were required to carry a minimum of 32 FTA channels. But the viewer could choose not to install the STB and be happy with the FTA channels paying Rs 72.

Due to much confusion and high cost of STBs – which, in some cases, was as high as Rs 8,000 - CAS was introduced only in Chennai on September 1, 2003. Only about 17,000 subscribers of the 12 lakh cable homes adopted CAS in Chennai in the first two months - mainly becausemost of the Tamil channels were FTA.

In March 2006, the Delhi High Court, on a petition filed by Hathway Cable Datacom and INCablenet, directed the government to implement CAS by 2006 or pay damages to the cable operators, as they had invested several crores.

In August last year, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) fixed December 31, 2006 as the date of implementation of CAS in notified zones of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.

It also issued a tariff order, fixing a ceiling on the maximum retail price at Rs 5 a channel per subscriber per month (excluding taxes). The maximum amount that was to be charged for FTA channels was fixed at Rs 77 (exclusive of taxes) for a minimum of 30 FTA channels.