| MUMBAI:
If the proposed Broadcast Bill 2006 does become law, it will not just be the requirement
of a licence to operate that the cable fraternity will have to grapple with.
The other worrying aspect of the Broadcasting Services Regulation
Bill 2006, for the MSOs in particular, is the fact that conditional
access systems (CAS) has no place in the Bill's scheme of things.
If the proposed Bill, which is presently being circulated among
members of the Union Cabinet, does become law, it effectively means
that there will be no rollout of CAS in India. At least as far as
the way it was originally mandated (a timebound rollout first the
metros and then further afield) is concerned.
The cable industry is presently
regulated by the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995. This Act will
automatically stand subsumed if (and that's a BIG if) Parliament signs the Broadcast
Bill into an Act of law. What this will mean also is that SEC 4A, the section
through which CAS was introduced, would also get deleted. Interestingly, there
is a "savings clause" provided in the proposed Bill that protects CAS
where it has already been implemented. Since Chennai is the only metro that is
CAS-delivered, it could well end up being the only CAS market in the country.
The thinking of the information and broadcasting ministry mandarins on
CAS comes through quite clearly in the wording that the draft Bill uses. It talks
of the need to introduce a modified version of CAS that is "more consumer
friendly" that it calls Addressable Systems. And the road map for addressability
is through going digital. The Bill proposes to progressively introduce addressable
systems from a specified date with a cut-off date to complete the changeover from
analogue to digital. And rather than a mandated CAS rollout, the Bill sees addressability
coming in as a natural fallout of the phasing out of analogue and the gradual
switchover to digital - a process that is going on in many markets across the
globe.An enabling clause in the Bill that eases the switchover to digital is
also seen as allowing enough flexibility to make suitable changes or amendments
where required. The draft Broadcast Bill, which calls for the setting up
of a separate Broadcast Regulatory Authority of India (Brai), has covered four
major areas in its ambit, which include content, cross media ownership, subscriptions
and live sports feeds (which are already part of the downlink norms). Also
Read:
COMMENT:
Broadcast Bill still has minefields to clear before becoming law
Broadcast
bill ready; scheduled to be tabled in Monsoon Session of Parliament Setting
up broadcast regulator to cost government Rs 601 million | 
