|
The bone of contention being that in such a scenario,
the cable reaching the subscriber's home must carry
the pay channels both in the unencrypted and encrypted
mode. However, Hathway officials claim that it is important
to note that the entire cable TV network consists of
a single cable interconnected from point to point albeit
at various levels - trunk, distribution, last mile amongst
others. Hence, each subscriber has only one cable coming
into his home that carries the entire signal to him,
add the officials.
While speaking to indiantelevision.com, Hathway Cable
and Datacom vice president Neeraj Bhatia says: "A
subscriber who procures the box will still continue
to get all the pay channels in an unencrypted mode also.
Hence, all the pay channels will still be seen by such
a subscriber irrespective of the choice of channels
submitted by him. Hence, most people who will procure
the box will not actually subscribe to any pay channel."
Adding that this norm is some kind of a piracy, Bhatia
says that it will also lead to greater disputes between
the broadcasters and MSOs on account of the payments
due to broadcasters from such subscribers. "MSOs
will not be able to pay any broadcaster for such a box
subscriber since the subscriber may not have opted for
any channel and therefore will not be entitled to pay
any charges. But broadcasters may feel otherwise."
Bhatia also added that the dual illumination system
cannot be implemented in an analog system as it would
be incapable of carrying the minimum number of stipulated
channels - namely 30 FTA channels; 35 pay channels in
unencrypted mode and 35 pay channels in an encrypted
mode. "Most networks have the capacity to carry
only between 67 and 80 channels. A digital system will
be able to implement this plan since it sends its pay
channels in a compressed form but the same is not true
for analog," says Bhatia.
Bhatia also feels that the area-wise rollout doesn't
make sense due to overlap issues. "It is not possible
to clearly demarcate cities such as Mumbai or Delhi,"
adds Bhatia saying that genre wise rollout is the best
option.
Bhatia feels that all these issues could have been
averted if the pay channel broadcasters had declared
their individual channel prices at the earliest in order
to evade any such unfeasible option. "This would
have also enable the MSOs to accurately work out the
number of STBs required in the initial stages. Now,
everyone is going by their own 'guess-timates' and playing
a cautious game," adds Bhatia.
Well, if wishes were horses.....
Try genre-wise
rollout of CAS
|
