CAS would have been a day old today. Instead, three things happened in succession on July 15. Cable operators — the last ones to stand by the Government in making a case of it — now admit that given the uncertainties in its implementation, CAS would have been unsuitable on today’s date. Junking the free-to-air rate of Rs 72 fixed by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, operators claiming that they have sunk nearly Rs 300 crores, have threatened to hike the rates from August 1 for “the Centre’s failure to rein in broadcasters”.Meanwhile, free-to-air Indian broadcasters Aaj Tak, Eenadu, Sahara, Sun TV and Sab TV today asked the government to reconsider the July 15 deadline for CAS roll out across four metros or at least ensure that the new regime is in place by September 1 with the Rs 72 cap in place.The broadcasters also said the proposed phased CAS roll-out has not found enough takers. ‘‘The delay in implementation of CAS is a fall out of foreign pay channels’ denial to honour the Centre’s notification on declaration of pricing of various pay channels by June 15 and implementation of CAS by the earlier deadline of July 15,’’ the statement added.And last, the I&B Ministry has decided to post its emissaries in various seminars being organised by cable operators/free-to-air channels/other stakeholders to get the first take on ground zero.With no legal plan to rein in any stakeholders, least of all the broadcasters who were required to furnish fresh prices of their channels, I&B Ministry officials indicated they were prepared to wait and watch, and hoping that all the ‘‘gentlemen’’ who had decided to keep their channel prices at Rs 72 till such time as CAS rolls out in all the four metros of Mumbai, Chennai, Calcutta and Delhi in the august premises of the PMO will stick to the gentleman’s agreement.
