| "This
is a dictatorship. They float a consultation
paper, we give our suggestions, and then they
do exact what they like…. I mean, I am
curious as to what logic they followed in
fixing the price at Rs 260 in A-1 cities when
the subscribers are happily paying much higher
already."
Trai
wants to micro-manage the industry and it
is completely opaque, compared to the ministry
of information and broadcasting, the official
stated.
"Take
the broadcast bill or the Code of Content,
which being legislative measures, are open
to scrutiny and are being tested at every
forum and still have not been pushed through,
but Trai's measures totally ignore this
process, and the consultation is a pure
sham," he stated.
The
official said that the kind of dictatorial
regulation now being witnessed makes TV
as good as an essential commodity to be
controlled totally by the government and
no free play in the market allowed to the
industry.
"When
prices of essential and life saving drugs
are getting deregulated, the government
thinks it can regulate prices of pay TV…
we are furious with this," he added.
"If
they think this is an essential commodity,
then Trai should not regulate the price,
and in any case, some price freezing could
be acceptable provided we had 100 per cent
declaration," he said.
Asked
if therefore he is suggesting that Cas,
which does give 100 per cent declaration
through SMS, is the solution, the official
pooh-pooed it saying: "The government
cannot implement Cas in small of segments
of three metros, and talk of extending it
to the rest of the country!"
"The
whole thing goes past the realm of sanity,
and is against the principles of natural
justice and we shall take this to court,"
he stated.
|
