[icernet] Big boys with their remote controls

[Arul Selvan]

The entire debate about the Conditional Access System (CAS) has 
deliberately been diverted into peripheral areas by the broadcasters 
lobby in an attempt to raise public anger against the CAS mandated by 
Parliament to regulate the pay TV business in India. As in politics, the 
broadcasters lobby claims to be championing the interest of the common 
man while suggesting measures which would actually serve their own 
specific business interests.

This lobby, led by foreign-owned networks, has immense clout in the 
media because of cross-ownership between the entertainment and news 
channels. And they command immediate attention in the print media 
because of the vast amounts of money they spend on advertising and the 
support of well-known journalists.

All the opponents of CAS have not been suborned by the broadcasters. 
Some of them may be genuinely misinformed or misled. But it is brazen 
for the foreign-owned networks to parade themselves as protectors of 
public interest. The CAS dispute is not about public interest or about 
the price that the consumers will pay for viewing pay channels. This 
dispute is all about private control of the airwaves in Indias 
entertainment space and control over the cable distributors.

Source:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_262566,00120002.htm