Well, Madame won out after all. Information and broadcasting minister Sushma Swaraj's single point agenda of imposing set top boxes and conditional access on the Indian cable TV industry was approved by the lower house of Parliament after a long debate.

The Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2002 was passed after a vote from members. Swaraj had to answer a lot of queries from members, especially in relation to costs, subscription fees, government control, the communications convergence bill, DD etc.

The Bill however went through and its enactment means that cable TV operators, television broadcasters and consumers will have to gear up for a new era of addressable pay TV television.



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