The Ministry of
Information and Broadcasting has issued a notification under the
Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995, notifying the
15th Day of January, 2003 as the date within six months
from which it shall be obligatory for every cable operator to
transmit/re-transmit programmes of every pay channel through an
addressable system in the Chennai Metropolitan area; Municipal
Council of Greater Mumbai area; Kolkata Metropolitan area and
National Capital Territory of Delhi.
The Cable TV Networks
Act was amended during the last session of the Parliament enabling
the Government to mandate the addressable system for pay channels.
Under the system the consumers would have to pay to the cable
operators for only those channels, which they actually wish to
view. The Ministry is constituting an Implementation Task Force
with representatives of all the stakeholders like the Cable Operators,
Broadcasters, MSOs and Consumers. The Task Force will determine
the minimum number of channels in the free to air bouquet, the
genre of the bouquet and the maximum amount payable for the free
bouquet in each of the Metros.
