NEW DELHI: The issue of conditional access system (CAS)
is generating renewed heat on the eve of its expected passage
in the Indian Parliament's Upper House (Rajya Sabha) and
a recent survey carried out at Broadcast Asia in Singapore
points out that India is attempting to introduce CAS in
a manner which has not been tested anywhere or, if done
so, has failed to have the desired effect.
No other country in Asia has successfully mandated CAS
as the technology for addressability has largely been left
to market forces to determine, the survey carried out by
an Indian legal firm says.
The government set up a task force on CAS comprising prominent
members of the broadcasting community to go into the issue
and it made its recommendations late last year. A perusal
of the provisions of the bill that is to be tabled in the
Rajya Sabha however, indicate a great variance between the
recommendations of the task force and what the government
The Cable TV (Networks) Regulation Amendment Bill 2002 gives
the government far reaching powers much beyond anything
contemplated by the task force. If the bill is cleared,
India will join South Korea and Singapore as the only Asian
countries where the use of set top boxes (STBs) or similar
technology and tiering for cable systems are mandated by
a Central law. Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines and Taiwan in Asia as well as the US and UK
are all countries that have allowed market forces to make
For example, the study points out, in China pricing of channels
is fixed but that is done at the local level of governance
and not through a Central legislation as is being attempted
in India. "In fact it appears that no country in the world
has enacted a legislation that is directly analogous to
the Bill. The concept of CAS proposed in the (Indian) Bill
is, therefore untested. The provisions of the bill should
be carefully considered to ensure that there is minimal
disruption to the cable and satellite TV industry, which
employs close to 30,000 people, generating revenue close
to Rs 40 billion, the study says. "Any disruption in its
functioning would have major socio-economic consequences,"
the study, being circulated amongst Rajya Sabha members,
In addition the bill differs from the recommendations of
the government-sponsored task Force on CAS on controlling
the size and composition of the basic tier of service. Although
current "must carry" regulations mandate carriage of certain
public service broadcaster (Doordarshan) channels, government
determination of the inclusion and exclusion of any other
channels in the basic tier amounts to a form of censorship
that was not recommended by the Task Force, the study points
Also, the Bill does not adequately address the Task Force
recommendations that cable operators be more accountable
and transparent, providing more efficient and responsive
service through methods, including accurate billing and
The study also points out that, for example, though the
Task Force made no recommendation on the issue of price
differentiation in different areas, the Bill proposes to
do that. "Such a differentiation will create a large administrative
burden for the local and national governments as each area
will need to be monitored and price fixed. Again, the Bill
does not outline its plan for determining the pricing in
different markets," the study explains.
Dwelling on the fact that adoption of CAS is market driven
in almost every jurisdiction in Asia, the study says. For
example, STBs are mandated in Singapore for new TVs, but
old ones continue to receive cable without STBs.
Price controls exist in China and Taiwan at the local level,
not through a national level legislation.
COMPARISON WITH SOME OTHER ASIAN COUNTRIES
Indonesia: Use of CAS is market driven. There are
no regulations and CAS may be used by the two existing Multi-System
Operators (MSO) among several delivery solutions.
Malaysia: Use of CAS is market driven. There are
no regulations. Apart from licensing channels, the government
has retained minimal control. The cable market is small
and the only cable operator recently went bankrupt as consumers
Korea: CAS is one of several options available
in the market and its adoption has been entirely market
driven. The cable market is large and heavily regulated.
There are different tiers with the basic tier available
at a low cost. Two-way addressability was recently introduced
and now you need a STB to receive the different tiers. This
has caused consolidation of the market as small operators
are unable to compete with larger MSOs. The smaller operators
have simply been put out of business and have had to shut
down. This could happen in India.
Taiwan: There are no regulations to mandate adoption
of CAS or STBs as the process is essentially market driven.
Taiwan has licensing and content restrictions, but apart
from this, the government is not trying to change or regulate
the structure or mandate technology, although the issues
are similar to India in that there are many relay operators
and content sensitivity. There are four MSOs with several
smaller players operating in the country. There is price
control and a content code.
Phillipines: There is one basic cable service. STBs
have become necessary and this has forced consolidation
of the market. Although there were many MSOs earlier, the
number has now reduced.
Thailand: There is minimal regulation. CAS is not
regulated. The cable market is very small, and the cable
operator is owned by the company that has the DTH rights
for the whole country. Effectively a monopoly with one MSO.
Hong Kong: STBs are needed. Tiering is present and
is wholly market driven. There is a single cable operator
who has a license to operate, apart from this there are
no other regulations.
Japan: Primarily DTH and digital cable. Broadband
services are available - no regulation, all market driven.
Singapore: Primarily cable. New TV owners are opting
for DTH although old TV owners prefer cable which is available
without a STB. The process is entirely market driven so
there are no regulations mandating CAS. Singapore does control
the composition of the basic tier.
Argentina, on the other side of the world, tried like India
to fix prices. The price control resulted in a sharp decline
in the quality of programming and this caused consumers
to switch over en masse to DTH. The cable market has collapsed
subsequently. The ceiling on price killed the industry as
people wanted better quality programming and value added
services which the cable industry because of price restrictions
was not able to provide.
A BRIEF COMPARISON WITH REPORT OF THE TASK FORCE
The CAS scheme differs from the recommendations of the Task
Force in the following ways:
1. Must-carry provisions for Doordarshan channels were recommended
by the Task Force. "This may be achieved without the Government
assuming the power to specify any channel other than the
public broadcaster as this would amount to directing the
choice of the viewers and their right to free access to
information would be infringed," points out a Delhi-based
2. The Task Force had suggested that package of services
should be left to the market. There is no rationale behind
the Government assuming control of the package of services.
Nor did the Task force recommend control of the number of
channels. "The Government has explained that it mean to
specify only the minimum number of channels, but this is
not clear from the language of the section," the analyst
3. The Task force was silent on the issue of price differentiation
in different areas. It did not say that the receiver set
technology should be limited to the current technology that
exists in India without scope for technological upgradation.
4. The Task Force had suggested that the consumer should
be educated on the cost of content creation and distribution.
This recommendation has not been addressed anywhere in the
5. The technology for implementing the CAS has been left
to the Bureau of Indian Standards. The Broadcasters need
to be consulted to see if their recommendations will work
for the industry. Without this there will be a gradual shrinking
of the market.
See earlier report: CAS
will give govt unparalleled powers, says survey
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