NEW DELHI: The temperatures have cooled a bit on the the vexed issue of the introduction of conditional access systems (CAS) among the cable fraternity. Mollified by the assurances extended to them by information and broadcasting minister Sushma Swaraj on the matter, cable operators who had gathered in the capital this evening decided to call off the indefinite strike that had been scheduled to kick off from midnight.

The cable operators, after their meeting with Swaraj, were initially undecided on whether to continue with the day-long strike or be content with a token hour-long blackout which they have been resorting to in Delhi and Mumbai.

"We will decide amongst ourselves whether to continue with our planned day-long strike or withdraw our agitation after the minister's assurance," Rajiv Vyas, chief operating officer of HTMT told indiantelevision.com after attending the meeting with the minister. The meeting was attended by about six people, which included independent cable operators too like Delhi's Rakesh Dutta and Vikki Choudhry and Naidu from Hyderabad.

Well the decision appears to have been that there will be a three-hour blackout from 9 pm tomorrow night to midnight. However, the indefinite strike that was initially planned has definitely been called off.

Yesterday, the cable fraternity had threatened that if no decision were taken by the government on the CAS issue by today, the cable ops would resort to an indefinite blackout from midnight tonight. The decision had been taken unanimously and was supported by distributors owing allegiance to all MSOs in the Mumbai. In the capital, MSOs had adopted a similar strategy since last Friday, resorting to an hour long blackout every day to protest the delay in the implementation of CAS.




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