Much is being spoken about Conditional Access System (CAS) and whether it is a step forward in rationalising the industry or not. Although the transition would be a bit painful from the point of view of existing revenue models of established broadcasters being threatened, I feel CAS would eventually lead to a more civilized way of doing business in media.

CAS will do away with many irrationalities that exist in the business environment currently.....

1. Under-declaration: In the pre CAS situation, the broadcaster forces the Multi-System Operator (MSO)/cable operator to pay for 100 per cent of their connected homes. Is this demand reasonable?

The best of the programmes do not get over 15 per cent ratings. So what is the logic of a broadcaster asking for 100 percent connectivity throughout the year ? In the post CAS scenario, there will be transparency in terms of actual numbers for each channel and will herald an end to negotiation based pay revenue streams

2. Bouquet Approach: The variance between mass channels and niche channels in terms of subscriber numbers will widen. In the current situation, the mass channels and the niche channels in the bouquet get similar subscriber numbers. This will change after CAS.

3. Pricing : The subscriber pricing of Rs 200 can not sustain the carriage of all packages if the MSOs pay for full connectivity. CAS will rationalise pricing to a certain extent and make viewer more discerning about the channels they would want to view. Hence a wide range of pricing options would emerge for the viewer.

4. Opportunities for new channels : CAS will reduce the importance of existing bouquets and new channels will realize that it is not the only way to enter Indian television homes. Like one of the new news channels would have realised that joining a bouquet would not necessarily give them the best reach new alternatives for distribution and marketing would emerge.

5. Consumer interest would be protected : Some of the consumers feel that they would be denied of good programming , but I feel that this would be a great opportunity for FTA channels to spruce up their services and gain leadership. The more the consumer will deny the existing leading channels viewership, the more would be the chances for them to go FTA and hence reduce the cost to the viewer.

6. Focused media plans: Media planners would be able to sharply define their target audiences and the target media. The gut feel factor would be reduced to a certain extent.

7. Choice for production houses: Production houses that want to keep leadership positions will have to chose the windows they want. There will be a definite shift towards FTA channels.

Achal Mehra, chairman, Fifth Avenue Media Services - a cable distribution consultancy firm.

(The views expressed here are those of the author. www.indiantelevision.com need not necessarily subscribe to them).