Ahead of elections, efforts are being made to ensure that cable TV viewers get to watch their favourite programmes uninterrupted.

This would also help political parties reach out to the masses with their advertising campaigns. Making it possible is a regulation by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on quality of service (QoS) for cable TV in non-CAS areas.

CAS, or conditional access system, which enables you to watch pay TV channels of your choice through a set-top box, is provided by cable TV operators in only some parts of the metros. While quality of service is maintained in the CAS areas, there were no regulations for non-CAS cable operators.

These regulations, which will come into effect from April 1, "will empower the consumers for receiving quality service from cable TV providers in non-CAS areas", Trai said on Tuesday.

Besides CAS, direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasting services are also covered by Trai's quality of service regulation.

Estimates suggest that there are over 80 million cable TV viewers in non-CAS areas across the country. Serving them are about 60,000 cable operators.

As implementation of the regulation holds the key to its success, Trai has written to the state governments for involving the district administration so that the QoS norms are enforced at the grassroots level. It is learnt that 12 state governments have already extended their consent for the proposal. Others are still examining it. Trai has added that these norms should be seen as a tool for self-regulation.
Nivedita Mookerji DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication