New Delhi, June 20
The government today said it would use legal powers against broadcasters and multi service operators (MSOs) to lower the tariff package to existing rates while executing the conditional access system (CAS) from July 15.
After meeting Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee here on Friday evening, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister, Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “Mr Vajpayee has given a go ahead for the implementation of CAS with the condition that the new tariff does not exceed the existing level.”
Mr Prasad said the Prime Minister had said all broadcasters, MSOs and cable operators needed to understand that the interest of the consumer was supreme.
The minister said the government had the power to fix subscription rates by law but would prefer that the broadcasters and the multi-system operators (MSOs) come up with a viable scheme.
The government’s talks with the broadcasters, MSOs and cable operators ended in a stalemate after the broadcasters quoted exorbitant
subscription rates for the pay
channels.
