The December 31 midnight deadline for rolling out the Conditional Access System (CAS) for cable TV in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata will be adhered to and there will be no relaxation in this regard, TRAI Advisor R N Choubey said on Sunday.
KOLKATA: The December 31 midnight deadline for rolling out the Conditional Access System (CAS) for cable TV in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata will be adhered to and there will be no relaxation in this regard, TRAI Advisor R N Choubey said on Sunday.
"CAS will be implemented from midnight tonight in Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi. There is no sort of relaxation. We have delegated requisite power to state authorities to monitor and take necessary actions against Multi-System Operators (MSOs)," Choubey, in-charge of overseeing the national roll out of CAS, told reporters.
Those who have not yet opted for Set Top Boxes (STBs) will not face a blackout but may not get any pay channels. CAS will be implemented in Kolkata and adjoining areas in four phases from midnight on Sunday. Only areas under Zone-1 of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's notification will come under CAS on Sunday.
"Response to installing STBs in Zone-1 is very poor. Not more than 20 per cent of the entire cable homes have decided to install STBs," a MSO spokesperson said.
"We will have our officers deployed to check there is no irregularity or misconduct by the MSOs," said West Bengal's Information and Cultural Affairs Secretary D K Chakraborty.
Choubey said TRAI has delegated powers to the state government to conduct raids and seize equipment for any illegal signal transmissions.
According to the state government, two of the five MSOs in West Bengal do not have adequate STBs to supply to consumers. The authorities have predicted problems like the beaming of uncrypted signals in Behala, Metiabruz, Khidderpore, Budge Budge and Mahestala areas.
Consumers from Alipur and New Alipur have responded very positively to CAS, officials said.
The state government has asked police to prevent any untoward incident in case the telecast of the forthcoming cricket Test match between South Africa and India from January 2 is blacked out due to the roll-out of CAS. Sourav Ganguly, who hails from Behala area, will play in the match.
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