[icernet] A foolishly ambitious scheme

[Arul Selvan]

The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2002 was 
passed by Parliament last December. Its intentions were laudable. At 
present, Indians pay a cable bill that averages Rs 157 a month for a 
package that includes many channels we dont want. Moreover, there is 
massive under-reporting by cable operators to TV channels  by some 
estimates this exceeds 80 per cent.

Suppose, somebody invented a system whereby you only paid for the 
channels you wanted? And one that ended under-reporting? The net effort 
would be to push subscription TV rates down because broadcasters would 
get all the revenues that were being under-reported and wouldn't need to 
charge so much. The governments solution to the problem of 
under-reporting and unwanted channels was to legislate that each of us 
had to buy a set-top box. And that was where the problems began.

Source:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_255756,00300001.htm