Poor CAS awareness drive makes residents fume

Even after two years of Conditional Access System (CAS), the residents of Ranchi are unable to actually get into the system of digitisation. They are stuck in a situation that is forcing them to make a choice between Direct to Home (DTH) and local cable operators.With easy installation and interactive services, DTH has grabbed the eyeball of the people of the city. The high quality sound and picture gave a satisfying experience to the viewers. Whereas chaotic service with sudden blackouts, the local cable has become a headache for the people. No information about package and the attitude of local cable operators are just intolerable.

“When CAS was introduced in the city in 2013, few customers came forward in the support of the system. In the beginning, people could not get outlook of the new system and were not ready to invest. The installation of set top box would cost `1,000 and in addition to that the subscribers would have to pay a monthly charge of `200. Moreover, they were not informed about the system,” said a local cable operator of Karamtoli.

The dilemma about CAS still exists among people residing in Ranchi. They are unaware of the functioning of this system. “I knew about the system of conditional access as it was telecasted on the television. But, I am still oblivious about the system. I cannot find any information about packages of local cable like DTH,” said Amit Ranjan, a businessman of Kanke.

Others in city instated set top box as instructed by operators without proper information. “I do not know about CAS. I installed set up box as it was recommended by our cable operator. He told if we do not do so, the cable connection will be cut off. And we could not afford to lose our daily soaps,” said Renuka Devi, a resident of Hinoo.

Earlier in this year, the local cable operators Manthan and GTPl started three types of package system in the city. According to this, the customers would have to pay only for their favourite channel. In the first package of `200, they would get all the free to air channel, basic Hindi channel and selected news channel, second package valued `265 would provide with three sports and English movies channels and last package of `325 would have all the channels.

The lack of information and awareness among city denizens has made their problem more acute. “I would have installed DTH as it gives you a wide range to choose in comparison to set top box. I get the same number of channel even if I take the package of `325. Once you have invested in set top box, it becomes very difficult for a middle class family to again invest and set up another DTH. On the other hand, cable operators seem to do very little for solving our problems,” said Amar Kumar Yadav, a resident of Harmu.

The ignorant temperament of cable operators also add to the adversity of CAS. A local operator refused to talk about the system. He said that he do not know anything and repudiated to talk about any system or package. He further added that we provide service according to the money paid by the subscribers.

Besides cable operators, the authorities are also nescient about looking at the problems of people related to the system. “We have no complaints regarding CAS. So, how can we just go out and investigate. Until,we do not get any complain, we cannot do anything,” said Amit Kumar, sub-divisional officer of Ranchi.

The CAS was introduced to resolve the problem of addressability which persisted in India from a long time. It enabled consumers to access television signal through an addressable system allowing them to choose channel and pay for those only. The pay channel would be transmitted through set top box, which would have individual or bouquet pricing.