I am enjoying the, admittedly rare, privilege of having a prediction proved right. Of course, it isn't on the outcome of the elections on which, like most journalists, I was embarrassingly wrong. |
Unfortunately, the enjoyment of this particular accurate augury is tinged with considerable irritation. It involves the expensive Conditional Access System (CAS), which had a test roll-out in south Delhi in January and went into suspended animation soon after, having been brought under the purview of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). |
Like many other residents in the area who believed CAS was for real, I opted to pay Rs 4,000 for a set-top box plus a hefty upfront subscription fee for the privilege of receiving the channels I wanted. |
After CAS was put in abeyance, the monthly subscription was reduced to Rs 175 till further notice, but I was told that pay channels would be available only through the set-top box. |
The first two months of the CAS service were a dream. Service was uninterrupted, transmission was crystal clear and channels didn't mysteriously disappear off the air just when you wanted them most. |
For a while, I was happy to note that my apprehensions, expressed in a column last year, were unfounded ("When consumers go out of focus," August 14, 2003). |
At the time I had written, "[The] excitement [over CAS] lasted only until I learnt that far from ridding me of the vagaries of my unfriendly neighbourhood cable operator...I'd continue to be dependent on him. And he, in turn, would be dependent on a primary operator over whom he had no power". |
Alas, since March, all of this has turned out to be depressingly true. Despite subscribing to CAS through a major IN Cable sub-franchisee, a former army-man who is known to be extremely vocal on cable operators' rights at various fora, service has lapsed to pre-CAS days, if not worse. |
Channels vanish, indeed all transmission vanishes, at odd times of day and night and sometimes for hours on end. The set-top box has suddenly developed weird snafus that distort the picture and the cable connection mysteriously acquires glitches at inopportune moments. |
Calls for repair-men are answered two, sometimes three, hours later "" pointless if you are watching a live event "" after which the customer is blamed for not being at home. |
It is clear that far from empowering the consumer, CAS has helped retain power in the hands of the cable operator to renege on service quality with impunity. Threats to file complaints in consumer courts or FIRs are met with replies like, "You can do what you like." |
The latest scam involves the twin sports channels ESPN and Star Sports, which have been carrying the now familiar picture-blocking messages that subscription had been suspended. How was this possible when I had specifically paid to view these channels? The local cable operator had no idea. Wait a day or two and it will come back, he urged. That was a month ago and nothing has changed since. |
Finally, I decided to actually call the IN Cable offices at Moti Nagar. There, a polite gentleman by the name of Vijay helpfully explains that IN Cable has a payments dispute with the two sports channels (the second in the course of 11 months). It would be sorted out in a week, was his assurance and definitely before Euro 2004. |
I point out that I had paid in January to subscribe to these channels. Ah yes, he replies, but all that is still under discussion (I assume he meant that Trai was yet to take a decision on the continuation or otherwise of CAS). |
Ergo: despite paying for a service, I was not going to get it because of problems at the supplier's end. Surely this was not the objective of introducing CAS? |
It is clear that none of the innovations that are being suggested to revolutionise TV viewing in India will prove effective unless Trai puts in a place a quick redressal mechanism "" it will have to be faster than even the admirable consumer courts. |
Without that, no transmission service that involves an intermediary of the kind that has flourished in this unregulated market will change things appreciably for consumers, even if it should benefit the broadcasters, cable operators and multi-system operators. |
Meanwhile, any bets on just how many Euro 2004 matches we'll be able to watch without interruptions? |
Disclaimer: These are personal views of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect the opinion of www.business-standard.com or the Business Standard newspaper