As uncertainty prevails on the fate of the implementation of the conditional access system, broadcasters are likely to come out soon with new rates for pay channels as well as an alternate formula for the "honeymoon" time proposal of all channels for Rs 72.
Sources in the information and broadcasting ministry said Star and some other pay broadcasters had conveyed to the government that they were getting together and are likely to announce their new plans by Saturday.
Notwithstanding speculation that CAS may be deferred, officials in the ministry are going about the exercise to ensure a "smooth roll-over" in the four metros. An official has been given the task of assessing the number of set-top boxes currently available in the market.
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Sources said as per available estimates, as many as 50,000 set-top boxes had arrived in the country while another 50,000 were being assembled. The multi-system operators have apparently informed the government that they have gone slow on procuring set-top boxes after the deferment of CAS from July 15 to September 1.
A ministry official said there is no indication that CAS has been put off.
The issue is understood to have figured at a meeting on Thursday night convened by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and attended by Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Law Minister Arun Jaitley and National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra.
Prasad, who has been silent on CAS in the past couple of days, will face a volley of questions on the issue in both houses of Parliament next week.
Meanwhile, the government is contemplating amendments to the Cable Act for getting broadcasters in the purview of CAS and capping rates of pay channels as well as advertisements on them.
However, it is not clear whether an amendment to this effect would come up in the Monsoon Session of Parliament beginning next week.
With the broadcasters not agreeing to the "honeymoon" period from August 1 and squabbling cable operators threatening to raise subscriptions, the government has no definite answers yet as to what shape its CAS roll-out plan might take.
The government has notified zones on Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata and the whole of Chennai to go under the CAS regime in the first phase of the staggered roll-out from September 1.
