Terming the government's proposal to go for dual-feed under the conditional access system from July 15, cable operators on Tuesday threatened that cable TV subscription rates would be around Rs 500 for those who do not opt to access pay channels through set top boxes.
Cable operators and multi-system operators, who met Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, told reporters that dual-feed, under which the consumer would have an option of accessing pay channels through set-top boxes or without them for a transitory period, was not "technically feasible".
"This is not CAS at all. People are being misled with an eye on elections," Roop Sharma who heads a cable operators association in New Delhi said.
They said going by the present freeze on pay channel rates, the total cost of these channels would be Rs 292 besides which the operators would charge basic services of Rs 180 and taxes.
The government, which has an assurance from broadcasters to keep the freeze on present rates of pay channels for six months for those who do not move to the CAS regime, is aware that it would have to be firm on a cut-off date for the transitory phase even if it opts for a dual-feed system.
It is also not sure how far it is technically feasible but concerned about the availability of set-top boxes it seems to have no option but to look at other areas to keep its promise of making it "consumer-friendly".
Sources said the government is also not happy with the pay channel rates quoted by broadcasters at Monday's meeting though it sees them as "better" than the ones given earlier.
However, it feels CAS would bring in transparency and eventually be "consumer-friendly".
The cable operators, who also met additional secretary in the ministry of IandB Vijay Singh, demanded to know who would bear the expenses for parallel network under dual-feed and asked why a subscriber should buy a set-top box if he is getting all the channels without it for the transitory period.
Rates quoted by broadcasters came to Rs 200-plus for the free-to-air and five popular pay channels -- Sony, Star Plus, ZEE, ESPN and Star Sports.
Despite a series of meetings between the government and stakeholders -- broadcasters, multi-system and cable operators -- the suspense over rates of pay channels under the CAS regime continued.
The MRP rates given by broadcasters were Star Plus (Rs 24), Sony (Rs 20), ESPN (Rs 29) and Star Sports (Rs 29). While Star Plus and Star Movies together have been priced at Rs 44, Set Max, Sony and Discovery combined will cost Rs 44 and ESPN and Star Sports Rs 32.
Sources said according to the figures available with the government, as many as 200,000 set-top boxes were available. However, this falls far short of the requirement, which as per estimates would be around 25 per cent of the six million cable TV viewers.
Cable operators, however, claimed the demand for set-top boxes was just two per cent.
