After a long wait of four years, CAS has officially been rolled out in the remaining three Metros of Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. It was legislated in 2003 and implemented in Chennai in 2004. Ministry of Information and Broadcasting as well as TRAI, the Regulator are dead serious this time in its implementation. Infact, some independent Cable Operators tried to thwart the CAS implementation and went to the court but were disappointed not to get any relief and both the Ministry and TRAI have been regularly updating and preparing the public for CAS through newspaper advertisements.
If the favourable atmosphere continues like this CAS will be all over India by the end of 2007. This will be a turning point for the industry and pave way for an organised functioning, not only of the Cable Operators but the whole sector. This will also bring Cable TV and DTH on a level playing field creating a healthy competition.
DTH scene is also becoming interesting. With almost the same number of channels on Tata Sky and Dish TV, the rate war has commenced. Also there are new services announced every day. DTH operators are competing with Cable TV in the CAS notified areas where quality is at par.
It was interesting to know how some unscrupulous people tried to take advantage of the situation. E-mails are being sent to Dish TV subscribers to subscribe to an adult channel package including Play Boy and The Hot Zone through credit cards. According to Dish TV sources it is a fraud some one is playing on and an FIR has been lodged. But many gullible subscribers might have already paid as adult channels will any time be a hot selling item.
The year 2007 has been declared as the ‘Year of the Broadband’ in India. We are likely to see many new technologies setting their foot in India. First of course, is CAS followed by IPTV, Mobile TV and WiMAX. MTNL, BSNL, Reliance and Airtel have already started trials on IPTV. Time Broadband is coming up as a content aggregator for the New Media. They have already launched their services on MTNL broadband on 20 December. WiMAX and Mobile TV are waiting in the wings. WiMAX is bogged down at present due to the spectrum issue which may get sorted out in the new year.
As usual, our January issue will contain a summary of major events happened last year. We are trying to make it as attractive and comprehensive as possible to make it a collector’s issue. This year has been a landmark for Cable Quest as it went all colour. We also hope to make the magazine even better in the new year. Of course, we could not have done this without the support of our readers and advertisers. The whole Cable Quest team feels indebted for this and wish all of you a very happy and prosperous new year.
With best wishes
—— Lt. Col. (Retd.) K K Sharma
Editor
Source: http://cablequest.org/articles/editorials/item/1832-the-%E2%80%98d%E2%80%99-day-arrives.html
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