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| | CIOL : News : Pay-TV: cable operators, broadcasters |
 | | India's fragmented $3.6 billion TV industry has more than 20,000 cable operators who, analysts and broadcasters say, under-declare subscriber numbers, charge random tariffs and sometimes flout broadcasters. |
 | | An attempt to introduce the conditional access system (CAS) in 2004 was stymied by politicians and cable operators everywhere except Chennai, where adoption was slow because the most popular channels were free-to-air -- not requiring a set-top box -- at a monthly cable subscription of up to 77 rupees ($1.74). |
 | | Still, the advent of CAS is expected to speed the growth of satellite TV, digital TV, Internet Protocol TV and other technologies which would boost advertising and subscription revenues, analysts say. |
| www.ciol.com /content/news/2006/106122802.asp (598 words) |
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