With 'Headend In The Sky' technology for providing digital cable TV services likely to become a reality soon, government on Thursday assured worried cable operators that it would address their concerns about it becoming a backdoor direct-to-home service throwing them out of job.
SitiCable proposes to use the HITS mechanism for CAS distribution and government is now examining necessary safeguards, information and broadcasting ministry sources said in New Delhi.
"We expressed our concerns that HITS should not lead to unemployment among cable operators and set-top boxes used for it get converted to DTH boxes," Rakesh Dutta, who heads a cable association, told reporters after a meeting with additional secretary in the ministry Vijay Singh.
Seeing it as a 'simplified and advanced' technology, government is now working out the details and does not foresee a scenario where the cable operators go out of job.
The cable operators have also cautioned about the possibility of vertical monopolies, where content providers run distribution platforms.
The meeting was attended by representatives from SitiCable of the Zee Group which is offering HITS through a solution called Galaxzee.
An end-to-end digital system, it involves setting up of a back office company that downloads all channels at a single location. These channels are encrypted with a single CAS and beamed up to the satellite.
