(17 March 2007 3:00 pm)

NEW DELHI: While denying that millions of poor families would be deprived of entertainment as a result of implementation of the Conditional Access System, the Government has informed Parliament that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has been asked to give its comments on extension of Cas to Zone II areas in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.

Claiming that the implementation in selected areas in the three metros had been a success, Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi told Parliament in reply to a series of questions that no decision had been taken yet to increase Cas in more areas or other cities.

He said the Cas scheme had been implemented vide notifications of 31 July last year after due consultation with stakeholders including broadcasters, multi-system operators, cable operators, and Trai.

The minister clarified that while the charges under Cas were notified by Trai in its Tariff Order issued from time to time and were dependent on the number of pay channels a subscriber opted to receive, the charges in non-Cas areas were notified on 26 December, 2003 with provisions of a 7 per cent enhancement. However, this would also depend on whether service providers opted to telecast additional pay channels after December 2003.