Will the World Cup 2007 beam reach city viewers through the set-top box?

First, clarification; then, cable control. After a series of stops and starts, the state government is making a concerted bid to gain more powers to intervene in some ?key issues? related to the local cable industry.

?At the moment, the state government has no say in anything. Different cable rates prevail in different areas and neither cable operators nor multi-system operators (MSO) give a correct account of their financial dealings. We want some suggestions and powers in order to address the situation,? an official of the information and culture department told Metro on Friday.

The government is writing to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) ? the current cable and satellite watchdog ? as well as the information and broadcasting ministry on the issue.

Cable industry stakeholders were summoned several times to Writers? Buildings in the past few weeks to discuss the problems plaguing the trade.

The government also clarified on Friday that it has no objections to the conditional access system (CAS), except that it should not place an additional financial burden on viewers. ?We don?t want people spending on set-top boxes which will work for only one service provider. The boxes should either be fully convertible to accommodate various MSOs or else they should be distributed free of cost,? said information and culture secretary Dilip Chakraborty.

On July 20, Delhi High Court had asked the Centre to implement CAS in Calcutta, Mumbai and Delhi by January 1, 2007.