The roll out of the conditional access system appears to be on course in Mumbai from September 1 despite opposition from some politicians. The Union government on Monday decided to defer the rollout of CAS in the capital.
In Mumbai, however, the required agreements between the broadcasters and cable operators on channel prices are already in place and massive promotions are waiting to be launched in a day or two.
Ashok Mansukhani, executive vice president, corporate services, at Hinduja TMT said, "The deployment of set-top boxes in Mumbai has gathered momentum. We have already received 5,000 applications from south Mumbai. All the remaining agreements with the broadcasters will be in place within the next two days."
A senior Star executive told Business Standard, "We are in the final stage of signing agreements with cable operators. We have already signed a deal with Hathway and would be signing with RPG for Kolkata on Thursday."
"We will ensure that the required agreements with other cable operators are in place in the next two days to ensure smooth implementation of CAS in Mumbai and other metro cities (excluding Delhi) on September 1," the Star executive added.
Shantonu Aditya, president of Sony Discover (One Alliance) said, "We have already agreed in principle, having discussed the bouquet prices in detail with the cable operators. We are ready for the CAS roll out."
Meanwhile, InCableNet is in the process designing `super packages' (pay channel packages with various combination of channels from the Star, Sony and Zee bouquet) with a price tag of Rs 99. Mansukhani declined to divulge further details as InCableNet is yet to sign an agreement with the broadcaster.
In Chennai, cable operators expect CAS to be delayed. "The entry or non-entry of CAS into the market will depend largely on what happens in Mumbai. If Mumbai implements CAS, Chennai may follow suit. This is because Sony and Star, the two biggest broadcasters who are opposed to CAS, are based in Mumbai," a leading cable operator who was not willing to be identified said.
Rajiv Nambiar, the CEO of Tamil Nadu's second most popular Tamil TV channel, Raj TV, told Business Standard that issues related to pricing and the architecture of set-top boxes were not clear. "We do not know what the price of a set top box as yet. Neither do we know whether the architecture of the set top boxes will allow consumers to switch between service providers," Nambiar said.
Raj TV, which has a bouquet of four channels, has two pay channels. The Kalanithi Maran controlled Sun TV, the market leader in the south, had only one pay channel amongst its bouquet of offerings.
