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MUMBAI: Conditional access system (Cas) will be rolled out
in the notified areas of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata from 31
December and no time extension is under consideration, the
government said today.
The deadline has been fixed by the Delhi High Court and there
is no possibility of it being extended, an official statement
from the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry clarified.
"In an application moved by a multi-system operator (MSO)
before the Delhi high court for extension of time, the court
has already taken a view that no such time extension is possible.
The I&B ministry does not have the power to order any extension
in the date of implementation of Cas. The transition time to
run encrypted and unencrypted channels and switching off pay
channel signals in unencrypted format began from 16 December
and will end on 30 December," the release said.
The ministry was reacting to a report in a leading news daily
that the deadline for rolling out Cas had been relaxed. "The
report is totally misleading and baseless," the ministry
said.
The ministry also categorically denied that it had left open
a month-long window after 31 December for implementation of
CAS and said that there was no question of any channel being
blacked out. The I&B ministry has not filed an affidavit
in the Delhi High Court seeking transition time after 31 December,
it clarified.
“In the advertisements on Cas released by the ministry
from time to time in various newspapers, subscribers have
been requested to apply sufficiently well in advance of 31
December for set-top boxes indicating their choice for pay
channels lest their pay channels are blacked out on 31 December,”
the release added.
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