(30 April 2007 7:20 pm)

NEW DELHI: The CNN-IBN news channel is to be converted into a free to air (FTA) channel in CAS-notified areas of Kolkata from 15 May.

The news channel, owned by Global Broadcast News Limited and distributed by Zee Turner, was until now a pay channel in Kolkata. CNN IBN will however, continue as an encrypted pay channel in the Cas notified areas of Mumbai and Delhi. A point of note here is that rival NDTV 24x7 went from pay to FTA in CAS zones of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata as of 23 March.

Meanwhile, ETV-Marathi distributed by Ushodaya Enterprises Limited has been converted into a Pay (Encrypted) channel in CAS notified areas of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai from 26 March. It was an FTA channel in these areas until now.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, in a press release issued today, also said that movie channel Pix distributed by SET Discovery had become an FTA channel in CAS notified areas of Chennai from 1 January this year.

The information was provided by Trai while updating its list of pay and FTA channels in the Cas notified areas.