| I&B Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad informed
Rajya Sabha on Monday (28 July) morning that the Convergence Commission
Bill was still pending with 77 amendments from the standing committee
on I&B.
The Rajya Sabha members pointed out during the question hour that
the government can use the services of an existing regulator like
TRAI instead of wasting government money on a new regulator.
Also, the members were agitated over the issue of CAS and free
to air channels. Sanjay Nirupam of Shiv Sena pointed out that the
cable operators like Hindujas have been forcing the set-top-box
on the consumers. He also asked the minister why there are only
30 free-to-air channels stipulated by the government.
The minister replied that the government has decided on a minimum
of 30 free to air channels because at a time of the decisions there
were only 35 free-to-air channels. He also said the cost accounting
department had reached the figure of Rs 72 for free to air channels.
Also read:
Sena will oppose imported
STBs: Nirupam tells Prasad
|
