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| indiantelevision.com's Breaking News |
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| BIS puts off decision on STBs for DTH
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Indiantelevision.com
Team
(20 February 2003 12:00 pm) |
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| NEW DELHI: If the availability of set-top
boxes (STBs) is one of the speed breakers to a smooth passage of implementation
of conditional access system in the country, the same issue has become
contentious in the case of KU-band direct-to-home television service
too. |
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After a meeting on specifications of STBs for DTH yesterday
here at the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), it seems BIS would not
like to take a definite stand and is likely to put the ball back in
the information and broadcasting ministry's court to take a final
shot at the issue.
The task force of the BIS, set up to discuss the specifications of
the STBs for DTH, yesterday failed to arrive at any sort of consensus
as the Star/Space TV representative maintained that interoperability
is not a workable model, while the others, including the Subhash Chandra-promoted
ASC Enterprises, opined it is technically possible.
According to sources in the BIS, it has now been decided to collate
the feedback on STBs for a month, including on whether interoperability
is possible or not, from all stakeholders and pass it on to the ministry
for "guidance and advice."
The dilemma of BIS is clear: it cannot come out in the open and say
outright that interoperability or open architecture is not possible.
Because it is. What it does is that the costs of STBs go up and, more
importantly, there is no guarantee of the boxes being hack-proof.
Yesterday's meeting was attended, amongst others, by Star India, NDS
(a News Corp company that has the technology for DTH and even CAS),
Doordarshan, ASC Enterprises, CETMA and Siti Cable.
Earlier this month, BIS had decided to form a task force to come up
with recommendations on the specifications of set-top boxes for DTH.
Star then also had said that interoperability, as suggested in the
government guidelines, is not a workable model.
What is making the work of task force - that has to come up with its
recommendations for the main committee of the BIS - difficult is the
fact that BIS' viewpoint was that it has to operate within the broad
framework of the policy guidelines which states that for KU-band DTH
service, an open architecture has to be followed.
Star's stand has been that if in open architecture the government
insists upon STB, then it would make the STB expensive and difficult
for a would-be service provider to subsidise the boxes as exclusivity
and captive consumers would not be assured.
Thomson India and CETMA, the apex body of consumer electronics goods
manufacturers in India, supported the stand of Star, said to be represented
by the Mumbai-based head of the company's DTH operations in India.
The information and broadcasting ministry had referred to the BIS
the issue of specifications for STBs for DTH last year.
What does the government mean by an open architecture? In layman's
language, it means that if a consumer buys a STB for a KU-band DTH
service in India, then the STB should be capable of working if the
smart card of another DTH service provider is inserted in it. This
theory is based on the presumption that there would be several DTH
service providers in India, though globally this sector works best
with monopoly or at best a duopoly.
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