National Cable & Telecommunications Association

Email: mail@ncta.info Fax: 9111692 2347 Website: www.ncta.info To, The Honble Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Government of India, Shastri Bhawan New Delhi Respected Madam, 3rd JULY 2002.

On behalf of all the Cable TV service providers of India, we would like to thank you for the initiative taken by you for introducing regulation to the CATV industry, Conditional Access System (CAS) task force constituted by you under the able guidance of Shri. Rakesh Mohan came to a unanimous conclusion that the biggest problem facing the cable industry of arbitrary increase in cable subscriptions, under declaration, financial burden of pay channels on the Indian masses can only be solved through addressability brought in by CAS. The various capital investment and recurring expense details as asked for by your Ministry, have already been furnished by us with regard to ascertaining the basic tier for free-to-air channel service. We have worked out the details with various world renowned suppliers of set top boxes and subscriber management systems. The industry, however, is awaiting the bill to be passed by the Rajya Sabha. It will be a yeoman service to the viewing public once the Rajya Sabha approves this amendment to the Cable TV Regulation Act, for introducing the Conditional Access System in India for the delivery of pay TV channels. We feel, Conditional Access is the only answer to equitably regulate pay channels and their cost and also give an assurance to the customers that they can pay for only those channels which they wish to view and the rest of the free-toair channels would be available at a government regulated basic subscription per month. The irony is that, despite the writing on the wall, broadcasters continue to hold the industry at ransom by asking for increased monthly payments without any rationale, thus putting a financial burden on the consumers, every where cable TV subscriptions have been increased due to the increase in rates and connectivity by these pay channels In one of the meeting of the task force, where even Mr. Peter Mukherjea of Star group was present, he had given an assurance that they would not hold the cable TV service providers and consumers to ransom for any increase in the subscriber base, till such time the CAS was introduced. This matter was again discussed in the meeting of the task force held on 27th June 2002. We regret to inform you that the broadcasters, namely, Star India. Ltd. and ESPN software India Ltd. are again asking the cable TV service providers/ head end operators/ MSOs for increased payments from 1 st July 2002. This would lead to further increased burden on the viewing public. Further, the Star India Pvt. Ltd. with others is contemplating substantial increase in the rates from 1st January 2003 to create havoc on the viewing public and we are being asked to push the subscription rates by 30% - 40%. We fear that cable subscription rates may even go up beyond Rs. 450 per month this may further aggravate the situation of the viewing public. To prevent this it is requested in public interest, a directive may be given to the broadcasters that no increase should be made beyond the amounts being charged as on 1 st April 2002. with such a directive, your Ministry would go a long way to stabilize the Cable TV industry and give us time to work out effective implementation of CAS. We look upon you as our saviour at this crucial juncture. Thanking you. Sincerely Yours VIKKI CHOUDHRY President NCTA
Regd. Office: 19 CSC (DDA) Sukhdev Vihar, New Delhi 1100 25 [INDIA]