According to sources in the government,
information and broadcasting minister Sushma Swaraj, largely instrumental
in pushing through CAS in the Indian parliament, is expected to sign
on the file today wherein a list of names to be part of the task force
have been enlisted. The task force is expected to be headed by Rakesh
Mohan, joint secretary (broadcasting) in the I&B ministry.
"The file has been lying in the minister's office for a couple of
days or so as the minister wants to make sure that the composition
is right and every sector that would be involved in CAS is properly
represented," a senior government official explained.
Apart from representation from the government, broadcasters and content
providers, there would also be representation of the content carriers
(MSOs and cable ops), technical people as also the general public.
Consumer activist Akhila Sivadas and consumer rights expert Pushpa
Girimaji are also expected to be on the task force to represent the
consumers.
The task force will not only decide the maximum price of the basic
tier of cable service, but also the minimum number of channels that
will have to be included in the basic tier. However, the government
or the task force would not specify which individual channels should
be carried as part of the basic tier or which all should not be.
In a recent meting with the MSOs and the cable fraternity,the minister
had made clear that from the date of notification (15 January ) of
the changes made in the Cable TV (Network) Regulation Act, CAS should
be implemented in the four metros in the first phase.
Swaraj had also said that the government is exploring the possibility
of including a few more cities in the first phase of rollout depending
on the availability of set-top boxes (STBs) that is necessary to access
the pay channels which have been mandated to be necessarily route
through STBs. |
