| "The committee is of the view that
CAS should be implemented systematically in a given time frame by
deferring the date fixed, if necessary, keeping in view the interests
of the people without disrupting telecast of quality programmes in
any manner," the report says.
Coming down heavily on the government, especially the Information
and Broadcasting ministry, the parliamentary panel, headed by Communist
Party of
India (Marxist)'s Somnath Chatterjee, states that it is seriously
concerned to find that the ministry "arbitrarily decided the
cut off date for introduction of CAS without making any in-depth
study about the availability of and price of set top boxes."
Pointing out that import of STBs in large numbers would result
in avoidable drain of foreign exchange reserves of the country,
the panel, in a scathing criticism of the I&B ministry, has
opined: "The committee fails to share the optimism of the ministry
that a smooth rollout of CAS will be possible."
According to the Standing Committee, going by the I&B ministry's
assertion that only one third of the cable TV households would opt
for STBs, the number of boxes needed would be 20 lakhs (two million)
against the total viewership of 56 lakhs in the four metros. Flaying
the ministry for being naïve, the Standing Committee has noted
that the multi-system operators (MSOs) have assured the government
of having placed orders for 27 lakh boxes (2.7 million) to be imported,
which has not been independently verified by the ministry.
"There appears to be no credible data available with the ministry
as regards arrival of the STBs into the country and, it is now,
after sensing the serious concern of the committee that the ministry
has assured to monitor weekly arrival of STBs," the parliamentary
panel has noted in its report released today, adding that the modest
number of 20 lakh boxes to be imported "will amount to outgo
of Rs 600 crores (Rs 6 billion)."
The committee has also noted that it is "deeply concerned"
that even though CAS is to be rolled out within the next few days,
yet many of the important issues agitating the public and having
financial implications have not been resolved.
Dwelling on the basic tier of free to air channels, the parliamentary
panel has said it fails to understand why the government has kept
the number of minimum number of FTA channels to 30 when broadcasters
are ready to provide upto 90 FTA channels.
"The consumer would have no choice with regard to channels
to be provided in the basic tier," it has been pointed out
by the panel that has further said the government ought to ensure
that the subscribers are able to exercise choice in matters of channels
to be available in the basic tier and make suitable amendments in
the law in this regards.
Some of the other issues that have been listed by the committee
as concerns are as follows:
* In addition to the high cost of the boxes, its inapplicability
in case a subscriber shifts residence and switches over to another
MSO has not been resolved.
* Though the MSOs/cable operators cannot force the consumer to buy
a particular type of box, it becomes clear from the ministry's submission
that MSOs would opt for costly digital boxes.
* Lack of complaint redressal mechanism in the relevant Act and/or
in the subsequent notifications.
* As per an Indian Broadcasters Foundation submission, availability
of boxes would only be to the tune of four to five per cent of the
requirement, which is likely to lead to a blackout.
* Pay channels' rates are transparent and bundling is avoided.
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