The government on Thursday justified the proposed introduction of the controversial conditional access system and said it would ensure a "consumer-friendly" roll over to the new regime.

"CAS is designed to empower the consumer.... We will make sure that it is consumer-friendly," Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told the Lok Sabha.

• The New Cable TV Regime

He said the government had decided on a phased roll-out from September 1 because of non-availability of the required number of set-top boxes, which would be required to access pay channels under the CAS regime, and to ensure a smooth implementation.

Prasad said cable TV rates had gone up by 11 per cent in the last six years and CAS would give the consumer the right to choose pay channels and pay only for those.

Asked why the government had notified only a minimum of 30 free-to-air channels in the basic tier, which would cost Rs 72 plus taxes, he said the figure of FTA channels placed before the Task Force on CAS was 35.

In a country with eight crore (80 million) television homes and four crore (40 million) cable TV homes, 60 per cent had only black and white television sets, which can show only 12 channels.