CAS or not to CAS

In the beginning there was the idiot box. Now, there has to be a set top box, too. If you try to watch the former without the latter all you will see is Doordarshan National, Doordarshan International, Doordarshan News, Doordarshan Sports and 20 other DD channels.

In the beginning there was the idiot box. Now, there has to be a set top box, too. If you try to watch the former without the latter all you will see is Doordarshan National, Doordarshan International, Doordarshan News, Doordarshan Sports and 20 other DD channels. These are midnight8217;s children 8212; at the stroke of 12 on December 31, 2006, when the world slept, Indians in south Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai awoke to free-to-air channels.

The implementation of CAS with a DTH option ended a cosy meacute;nage a trios between the broadcaster, the cable operator, and us 8212; one that saw the broadcaster woo cable operators, operators flirt with them and us reap or weep the consequences of their romance. With CAS/DTH they propose and we can dispose of them by choosing to watch what we want.

You can watch 70-odd free to air channels and pay Rs 77 plus taxes. Or watch whatever they 8220;dish8221; out on Direct-to-Home. Or an empty screen8217;s fuzzy picture. Because what you get for 8216;free8217; is Moninder8217;s grizzly beard.

Other than DD News, there are all the usual suspects and many unsuspected ones: Total TV, News Asia and Australia News. For those writing theses on Aaj Tak, there8217;s plenty of material: Aaj Tak, Aaj Tak Tez, Aaj Tak Dilli and Headlines Today. Entertainment is available but only for the multi-lingual: DD Malayalam, ETC Punjabi, Jhankar and at least 10 ETV regional channels.

Music for your ears, too, except MTV, Channel V and Vh1 what8217;s left? And the One who is always accessible without condition, sorry, Conditional Access System. God.

CAS-free you8217;ll miss Prannoy Roy8217;s graying beard, Rajdeep Sardesai8217;s graying hair Semi Girebaal8217;s false hair, Parvati8217;s Manish Malhotra designed hairiquest; and Bigg Boss the house where they let their hair down in public in public.

CAS: Conditional Access System means it is Conditional on you8217;re paying in advance, awaiting Access to Systems un available with your local cable operator or MSO.

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Each pay channel costs Rs 5 per channel. Take 30 and it costs Rs 300 8212; approximately what you paid earlier without the intellectual exhaustion of choosing what to watch.

Want to divorce your cable operator? Engage Direct-to-Home 8211; Tata Sky, Zee8217;s Dish TV, DD8217;s Direct Plus. DD8217;s distributing boxes like sweets but Tata and Zee don8217;t have enough to go around. Once they do, enjoy contact with over 100 channels many of which you have never heard of before and pay roughly CAS prices.

So the choice is to forget CAS or DTH and be the best informed person in your neighbourhood or to choose between a CAS set top box and a DTH one both of which are unavailable.

There8217;s IPTV, another protocol that offers8230;