NEW DELHI: How does the consumer perceive the conditional
access regime? Is he ready for CAS? Questions, notwithstanding - the
crux of the I&B Ministry-NFO Survey - monthly CAS payout is the
over-riding concern for consumers.
Costs for the set-top-box and having to
shell out separately for each channel - emerged 'worrisome' issues
for many - at least in Kolkata and Delhi and to some extent in Mumbai.
Chennai seemed least rattled.
It is likely that most in Chennai would switch-over to CAS as soon
as implemented, the other three metros seemed a mixed lot. An equal
number would convert to CAS, while others mentioned waiting one to
maximum three months- before making the switch-over. Majority find
CAS acceptable in principle, but would like to know more about it.
Interestingly, across metros most consumers would prefer purchasing
a set-top-box as opposed to hiring one. The unanimous view across
metros is that STB should be priced below Rs 2,000 or if at a monthly
rental for an austere Rs 50 per month.
Regarding advantages of CAS - consumers were buoyant with the thought
of paying only for channels they would like to watch-some terming
it as "the right to choose" and the "freedom to choose"
-manifested as transfer of power from the cable-operators hands to
the consumer.
The survey was conducted across all socio-economic-classifications
A, B, C, D and E, essentially among chief-wage-earners and housewives.
Fieldwork was conducted in August 2003 and confined to areas 'earmarked'
for phase 1 roll-out, which means Chennai was completely covered and
for other metros restricted to areas as per the CAS notification.
Methodology adopted was quantitative using a structured questionnaire
with a mix of closed and open-end ones. NFO interviewed a total sample
base of 2,000 respondents.
Majority of the households surveyed own single television sets. And
close to 30 per cent Kolkata homes own a black and white television
set. While most homes could actually receive close to one hundred
channels on their TV sets - most actually received only close to 30
channels.
The survey also covered consumers' view on how much they would like
to pay for each channel - across genres. Consumers were also asked
if they watched advertisements and if they would pay more if ads were
curtailed. Interestingly, while most watched ads - consumers seemed
least affected with advts being taken off the air there were not ready
to incur any additional monetary load.
