The Hindu : State recommends CAS withdrawal

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 09, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

State recommends CAS withdrawal

By A. Subramani

CHENNAI, MARCH 8. Tamil Nadu has recommended to the Centre that it withdraw the Conditional Access System and sought adequate powers for State Governments to regulate the CAS. This submission was made by the Government in the Madras High Court while seeking to be impleaded as party in a batch of writ petitions challenging the suspension of CAS. The court, admitting all petitions, stayed the operation of a February 27, 2004 Central Notification, indefinitely suspending the CAS regime.

The Government said the CAS was a failure in Chennai, where it came into effect on September 1, 2003, as out of eight lakh cable television viewers in the city only 20,000 purchased set-top boxes (STBs).

``Without any regulatory mechanism, the monthly subscriptions fixed by the broadcasters are high for consumers. The STBs are not available in the open market. Besides being expensive, they are available only from either of the two operators on very rigid terms,'' the petition said. As these were unfriendly to consumer interest, the Government made a representation to the Centre for withdrawal of the CAS immediately.

Arguing that the CAS paved the way for a ``patent discrimination in charging monthly fees,'' the petition said, ``a viewer residing outside the city limits can see both pay and free channels for a consolidated fee of Rs. 150-200. Whereas, a viewer in Chennai, apart from paying over Rs. 72 for free channels, must pay more than Rs. 200 for pay channels in a bouquet form.''

The decision to suspend the CAS was taken on the basis of a report from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), which considered the entire issue in detail, after giving enough opportunity to the affected parties. ``The impugned notification also contained valid reasons and was issued after a careful consideration of all relevant facts and circumstances. The recommendation to suspend the CAS was made in the larger public interest and to safeguard the interests of consumers.''

Referring to a Division Bench order holding that the word `cinema' would include video and cable operation, the petition said the general power to regulate exhibition of cinemas was with the State Government. Therefore, in its representation to the Centre, Tamil Nadu ``made it clear that the State should be given adequate power to regulate the exhibition of an entertainment through cable television networks.''

Objections to the CAS regime were received from cable operators in Delhi, Maharashtra and West Bengal, besides Tamil Nadu as well, the petition pointed out.

'Suspended not abolished'

In its petition for vacating the March 4 stay order, the Centre said the writ petitions challenging the suspension were premature as the CAS had not been scrapped. ``The implementation of CAS is sought to be reviewed by an expert body, and it will not be in the interest of the public to keep the policy in a state of uncertainty. Therefore, it is kept in abeyance till the final recommendations of TRAI, which is seized of the matter.''

Conceding that problems had arisen in the implementation of the CAS, it said that by a notification dated January 9, 2004, the Centre asked the TRAI to make an overall assessment of the situation and submit its recommendations. Referring to the contention by Sumangali Cable Vision that it had made huge investments, the petition said, that ``when the public interest warrants a reversal of a policy, a change or amendment or even its suspension cannot be faulted on the ground that it has caused a loss to a person or a section of the public.''

The matter is scheduled for further hearing on Thursday.

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Tamil Nadu