The Hindu : Broadcasters agree to waive subscription fees till Dec.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 05, 2003

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Broadcasters agree to waive subscription fees till Dec.

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JULY 4. Though the new proposal of deferring the implementation of the Conditional Access System (CAS) in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai envisages a rollout of the system from September 1, broadcasters and MSOs/cable operators have agreed to charge only Rs. 72 plus taxes in the four cities from August 1. This was apparently a contentious issue as broadcasters were reluctant to turn their pay channels into free-to-air ones to ease viewers into the new regime. Even after giving in to the Government's insistence that broadcasters not charge pay channel rates in the initial phase, the latter maintained that they were not converting their pay channels into free-to-air. "All we have agreed to do is waive our subscription fees till December," said Sameer Nair of Star.In fact, the Government has been pressing broadcasters to turn free-to-air for some time now to ensure the success of the CAS as the rates quoted by channel-owners added up to more than the Rs. 200 that the Information and Broadcasting Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, had promised post-CAS. Apparently, this suggestion was rejected by the broadcasters on Wednesday.While Mr. Prasad was non-committal about the Ministry's position on this proposal, indications are that it would find the Government's approval; particularly given the immense pressure it is under to defer CAS, especially in Delhi where Assembly elections are due later this year and in Mumbai where the Shiv Sena leader, Bal Thackeray, has called for a staggered introduction.

Meanwhile, even as representatives of Star, Sony, Zee, ESPN-Star Sports and Discovery were closeted in the PMO for close to seven hours with MSOs/cable operators, their counterparts in Aaj Tak, SABe TV, Sahara TV and Eenadu TV joined hands elsewhere in the Capital to denounce the "arm-twisting tactics of the foreign broadcasters who are keen on deferment of CAS".

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