Making conditional access system (CAS) mandatory for viewing of pay channels was the most important piece of legislation to be passed by Indian Parliament in 2002, though it came after several hurdles.

On 7 May 2002, the Cabinet passed a bill in the Lok Sabha (lower house) seeking to amend The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995. Cable TV operators would have to transmit or retransmit programmes of any pay channel through an addressable system. For the free-to-air channels that were to form part of the basic tier, the government would decide the minimum number of channels and the maximum rate that cable operators were to charge viewers.

And on 15 May, the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2002 was passed through voice vote by the Lok Sabha after a marathon debate that lasted three hours.

However, hectic lobbying by a section of politicians and broadcasters delayed the passage of the Bill in the Rajya Sabha (upper house). Finally on 10 December, it won overwhelming support in the Rajya Sabha.

The credit to bring legislation in for CAS must go to then information and broadcasting minister Sushma Swaraj. Multi system operators welcomed CAS which they believed would change their fortunes as they were squeezed in between broadcasters asking for more payout and last mile operators who were under-reporting their actual subscribers. Independent cable operators also saw this as an opportunity.

The complexity of implementing CAS would only surface in 2003 as it would require massive investments and seeding of CAS boxes. In 2002, it was seen by the MSOs and independent cable operators as a victory for them.

Sony Entertainment Television India also had reason to celebrate as it bagged the exclusive cable and satellite TV rights for live telecast of ICC cricket tournaments to be held from 2002 to 2007 covering the Indian subcontinent. The cost: a whopping $ 208 million in the biggest ever licensing deal in Indian broadcast history.

Sports broadcasting saw a new entrant with the launch of Ten Sports in April. The channel was immediately in the limelight as it had bagged the exclusive terrestrial and C&S telecast rights to the FIFA soccer World Cup for a piffling $3 million. Sports properties would thus get fragmented, a situation that ESPN Star Sports had wanted to avoid when they set up the joint venture.