The buzz is back about conditional access system (CAS), a method to enable millions of cable and satellite viewers in the country to select and pay for the channels of their choice. It is, after all, supposed to roll out in four weeks in the metros as per last Friday?s Delhi High Court direction.

But just how ready is Calcutta to take the CAS route? Multi-system operators (MSO), the actual implementers in this case, claim that at their end things are in place, or will be within four weeks.

However, some key issues regarding the system are yet to be sorted out on the ground. ?We have around one lakh set-top boxes in stock and have been seeding them slowly among consumers,? says Amit Nag, CEO of Indian Cable Net, an arm of MSO SitiCable which dominates the cable market in Calcutta. Indian Cable Net was also one of the three companies that filed the petition on which Delhi High Court passed the order.

The CAS concept goes like this. In the present cable transmission system, a non-encrypted or unscrambled signal reaches the viewer from the cable operator for which a monthly subscription is paid. Under CAS, the signal will contain the free-to-air channels in unscrambled mode while the pay channels will be encrypted. A set-top box at the viewer?s end will then decrypt only those pay channels that the viewer has paid for.

?The advantage is, even if some consumers are hesitant to pick up set-top boxes initially, they can still see 70-80 free-to-air channels for less than Rs 100,? Nag points out.

But with the roll-out in limbo for over two years, caution is the keyword. ?Procuring the boxes is not an issue. What we want to see this time is a clear and non-changeable stand on the matter from the government,? offers Gurmeet Singh, a director of MSO Manthan that is also testing the boxes among viewers.

All the MSOs plan to offer value-adds in the form of new channels ? two have started beaming Realmadrid TV for football fans who have taken the boxes ? and various rent and purchase models for the boxes, once CAS is implemented.

Despite the claims from the MSOs, issues that led to controversy and prevented the system from taking off in 2003 are yet to be sorted out. Broadcasters need to enter into fresh agreements with MSOs for CAS. With under-declaration and payment disputes plaguing the trade, most broadcasters are reluctant to do so. Competing services from some like the soon-to-be-launched STAR-Tata direct-to-home (DTH) venture adds to that.

The composition and pricing of channel bouquets under CAS have not been fixed. Ditto for the pricing and standardising of set-top boxes ? the latter to allow viewers to change service providers if they want to. The Assembly polls would, of course, be another cause of concern for the state government that has to oversee the implementation process.

Neither the court ruling nor the government has clarified these points. And time?s running out. Perhaps a phase-wise roll-out, as planned in 2003, would help expose the high and low points. In Calcutta, Phase I comprised areas like Garden Reach, Kidderpore, Metiabruz and Mahestala, which have around 2.5 lakh of the 20 lakh-odd cable households in the CMDA area. Sources say the same map will be followed this time, too.

? Subhajit Banerjee