The cable industry on Friday set a deadline of December 15 for implementing the much-delayed conditional access system in South Delhi zone even as the government remained tightlipped on whether it will appeal against Delhi high court order asking it to put the system in place.

In a meeting with senior information and broadcasting ministry officials, multi-system operators (MSOs) including Siti Cable, Hathway, Win Cable, InCable, RPG and Sun TV's Sumangali Cable Vision said they would go ahead with the December 15 deadline and that pay channels in South Delhi zone would be available through set-top boxes only thereafter.

When contacted, I&B secretary Pawan Chopra declined to comment on the issue, while other senior ministry officials also stayed tightlipped.

Siti's Jawahar Goel said: "We had a meeting with the I&B officials. All MSOs were present. We have told the government that from December 15 this year, pay channels in South Delhi will be available only through set-top boxes."

Meanwhile, sources in the ministry said government was eliciting views from all stakeholders on CAS before taking a decision on whether to appeal against the Delhi high court decision or allow implementation of CAS.

They said legally, MSOs have every right to begin the system since government notification of July 11 bringing southern areas of Delhi and Mumbai, most of Kolkata city and the whole of Chennai was still valid.

The notification made it mandatory for cable operators in the notified zones to transmit pay channels through an addressable system.