NEW DELHI: Broadcasters, mostly operating pay channels in India, are slated to meet India's information and broadcasting minister Sushma Swaraj in the first week of January 2003 on the issue of conditional access system (CAS).

According to government sources, the broadcasters have requested for an audience with the minister on CAS and its implementation. 

Despite opposition from certain quarters in the broadcasting sector, Swaraj has seen to it that CAS has got the full nod of Parliament and her ministry is now looking at an early rollout of CAS in the four metros in the first phase.

Though the broadcasters would have liked an appointment with the minister sooner than the scheduled one, government sources said the minister probably does not have much time between now and the tentative date which has been zeroed down upon. 

At the time when CAS was okayed by Rajya Sabha (Upper House) earlier this month, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation, an apex body broadcasters operating in India, had said that its members "fully support CAS" and would cooperate with the government in facilitating "a smooth transition to CAS regime."