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Tag: CAS-related

  • South Mumbai cable body files CAS-related PIL

    MUMBAI: Even as consumer organisations mull over filing public interest litigation (PIL) against proper implementation of the conditional access system (CAS), here’s one from a rather surprising source – a group of cable operators.
    The group, which calls itself the South Mumbai Cable Operators’ Welfare Association has lodged a petition which will come up for hearing tomorrow (29 May) in the Mumbai High Court.
    The South Mumbai Cable Operators’ Welfare Association, which claims to be a registered entity with the Central government’s office of the charity commissioner (Mumbai), has filed the petition number 1417/03 urging the government to ensure that the CAS rollout is smooth. A vacation bench of the Mumbai High Court chaired by Justice JP Deodhar will hear the petition tomorrow and decide whether to admit it or not.
    The association claims to have 300 members between Colaba (south Mumbai) and Mahim (central Mumbai). The petition has sought government intervention in order to streamline the proposed implementation of CAS. The association’s secretary Polly Nagwaswalla has expressed concerns that the new technology would result in chaos and confuse the consumer.
    Nagwaswalla is a cable operator who operates in Mumbai’s Grant Road area. The petition mentions the registered office of the association as being located in Glass building on J Jehangir Road, opposite Bhatia hospital, Grant Road, Mumbai 400 007.
    The petition also mentions that nearly 1 million households in Mumbai will be affected by the process of CAS implementation.
    It might be recollected that a division bench of the Mumbai High Court comprising Chief Justice CL Thakker and Dr Dhananjay Chandrachud had postponed the crucial hearing of the “cable case” to 18 June 2003. An association of Mumbai-based cable operators have filed a petition with the vacation bench of the High Court.

    Also read: 
    Mumbai High Court postpones cable case to 18 June

  • Independent body to do CAS-related cost survey

    NEW DELHI: Taking due note of the mounting pressure from the cable fraternity, the Indian government piloted task force on conditional access has agreed to rope in an outside agency to survey the various contentious parameters on which the costing of the basic tier of cable service would be done.
    According to sources, the surveyor will be selected by the information and broadcasting ministry and is likely to begin work by the weekend or early next week. The names of agencies which cropped up during the over three – hour meeting today include- PriceWaterhouse Coopers, ORG-Marg and a Tata company, according to task force sources.
    The survey, having a specified time frame of four-five days, would be carried out in Delhi and Kolkata.
    The finance ministry earlier had come to the conclusion that the cost of the basic tier of free to air channels in a post CAS regime would be Rs 45.90 (exclusive of local and entertainment taxes).
    The cable operators in the task force and elsewhere had dubbed the figure “too low” and disputed the parameters used to arrive at this cost, which were said to be “far from the ground reality.”
    For example, one of the most contentious parameters was a cable network’s coverage area where the finance ministry used the parameter of a radius of 7.5 km with 32,000-odd homes passed through by the cable. These parameters were used to determine the cost incurred by a cable operator in providing the cable service.
    The cable fraternity, in turn claims, that no individual cable network in India covers over 30,000 cable TV homes and that the radius should be 4.8 km.
    At today’s meeting, where most of the time was taken up by discussions on this topic, the government representative, who heads the panel, is also said to have asked the broadcasters whether they are ready with the maximum retail price of pay channels in their respective bouquet and whether there is a chance of any pay channel turning free to air.
    According to sources, the broadcasters’ lobby said that individual companies are internally studying the situation and would come up with the relevant information soon.
    Meanwhile, the cable operators across the country, especially those in the four metros where CAS is being sought to be implemented in the first phase, are trying to put up a semblance of unity as they feel threatened that a low price of the basic tier would ultimately kill their business.
    According to Rakesh Dutta, a task force member and a Delhi cable operator, a resolution, signed by 1,500-odd cable ops from cities like Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Bangalore and Kolkata states that cable operators would be unable to carry on their business if the price of the basic tier is below their cost of operation.
    The relevant part of the resolution, submitted to the government today, reads, “We unanimously declare we shall be unable to carry on our business at a price which is below our cost of operation, which stands at Rs. 180 per month (per subscriber), as already submitted (earlier) to the members of the task force.”
    The chairman of the task force today criticised the agitation, including dharnas and press conferences (held yesterday under the aegis of the Cable Operators United Front in Delhi), being organised by a section of cable operators having so-called allegiance to a particular MSO, saying that shouting slogans against the task force or the government would not solve any problem.
    Still, it is learnt that the venue of today’s task force meeting was besieged by a sizeable number of cable operators who are not members of the task force, but want their voice to be heard and also get first hand information of what transpired behind closed doors.
    The next meeting of the task force would depend on the outside agency’s report and feedback on various aspects of cable business.
    (1$ =Rs 47.73 )

    See related story :
    Finance ministry moots Rs 46 FTA price 
    CAS task force formed; to meet 7 Feb
    Basic tier task force compositon to be fixed today