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CAS chaos

WITH EACH passing day, it is becoming evident that the Conditional Access System (CAS) has failed to take off in Chennai. Though there are 12 lakh cable connected houses in Chennai, only 17,000 set top boxes (STB) have been sold so far and that too there was a spurt in sales only after India won at Adelaide. Even though STBs are available at a monthly rental of Rs. 36 after paying a refundable deposit of Rs 1000, there are hardly any takers. In Chennai, you can't beat the Tamil channels, which are free to air. Under the new system, those households without STBs need to pay only Rs. 90 per month compared to an earlier Rs. 200 or 300 the cable operators charged. Compared to Chennai, when the CAS was introduced in South Delhi last week, there was a hue and cry with some of its influential citizens calling it a `violation of human rights'.

SREEDHAR PILLAI

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