The CAS regime is not going to get any costlier The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) on Tuesday ruled that the upper limit of the cost of each pay channel in Conditional Access System notified areas will remain Rs 5.
The rate was fixed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). The tribunal also asked three broadcasters who had appealed against the tariff to pay Rs 50,000 each to TRAI.
The broadcasters - Set Discovery Private Limited, ESPN Star Sports and ESPN Software India had questioned the feasibility of a maximum tariff of Rs 5 per pay channel fixed by TRAI, claiming that it was financially not viable.
They had demanded that market forces should fix the tariff.
TDSAT dismissed the appeals, observing that there was no merit in them. It pulled up the broadcasters for unnecessarily raising the issue before the tribunal. The order stated"...they have not been fair in placing their case before us. We find that the approach of TRAI in regulating the CAS regime at its introductory stage in the notified areas is fully justified."
Welcoming the decision, a senior TRAI official said the judgment is a fair assessment of the telecom regulator's efforts in rolling out CAS. "It is a landmark judgment. We hope that people would not try to stall the rollout of CAS unnecessarily in the future," said the official.
From:- Ht, FEB-28,07
