Govt puts on hold plan for extending CAS to other areas

NEW DELHI: With the much-hyped Conditional Access System (CAS) introduced in South Delhi six months ago yet to settle down, the state government has temporarily put on hold its plans to expand the service to the other parts of the Capital.

‘‘We are getting numerous complaints from CAS subscribers from South Delhi, where Set Top Box (STB), which de-encrypts pay channel, was installed in January. It seems teething problems are far from over,’’ a senior official said. He explained that it was reason enough for the government to reconsider its initial plans to assent to CAS extension in other parts of the city.

The official said: ‘‘ Except registering complaints, the state government cannot do anything in the matter, given the fact that the power to check the quality of service lies completely with broadcasting regulator TRAI.’’ The complaints are of various kinds, ranging from poor quality of broadcasting to the cable operator’s failure to provide channels the subscribers have applied for under the pay channel category.

‘‘There seems to be a lot of confusion about the system among subscribers,’’ the official said. With cable operators and Multi-System Operators (MSOs) blaming each other for the quality of service, the subscribers are at the receiving end.

TRAI had recently called a meeting of all the MSOs to discuss their preparedness for extending the services to the non-CAS areas as well in all metros including Delhi. Though Delhi Excise department has sent a proposal for extending the service, the state government is still in two minds, adopting a wait and watch policy. Already several RWAs in South Delhi are unhappy with the CAS.

‘‘ The government would not like to take the chance of introducing CAS in non-CAS areas, considering the fact that elections are just one-and-a-half years away,’’ the official said. Nearly two lakh STBs have been installed so far in CAS notified area.