With the supply of set-top boxes set to lag behind the demand in areas where the conditional access system (CAS) came into effect from December 31, the government has stepped in to take stock of the situation.

As step one, Dilip Chakraborty, principal secretary, information and cultural affairs, convened a meeting with the multi-system operators (MSOs) on Tuesday and sought a status report on their preparedness to switch to the new regime. Chakraborty had a separate meeting with the broadcasters.

“We gave him all the details regarding the projected demand, number of boxes installed till now and a tentative time-frame to cover the entire market,” said a cable industry source who attended the meeting.

As part of the CAS roll-out plan in the first phase, over three lakh cable homes in Alipore, New Alipore, Behala, Chetla, Budge Budge, Garden Reach, parts of Thakurpukur, Tollygunge, Haridevpur and Mahestala will switch to the new format.

But set-top boxes have not reached even 10 per cent of the homes. The situation is set to worsen as the demand for the box spirals and MSOs admit that it will take at least three months to cover all the cable homes projected to demand installation of a box.

“We will be monitoring the situation to ensure a smooth transition to the new regime,” said Abhijit Sanyal, nodal officer appointed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

While the MSOs crunch demand-supply mismatch numbers, direct-to-home (DTH) operators have raided Calcutta’s CAS zone.

According to Vikram Mehra, head, consumer marketing, Tata Sky, the demand for DTH systems has picked up since the pay channels were blanked out.

“We have been anticipating a response like this from the market and preparing ourselves,” said Mehra.

Tata Sky has rolled out special promotional offers for CAS zones like free subscription for six months to consumers placing their demand between December 28, 2006 and January 10.

Besides offering attractive packages to lure customers from the cable-driven Calcutta market, Tata Sky and Dish TV have increased headcount to combat CAS with DTH.

“We expect the demand to pick up further after people return home from their winter holidays,” said Mehra.