Television viewers will have to pay less under the Conditional Access System (CAS), the Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday.

The viewers will have to pay less under CAS than what they have been paying now for a bouquet of channels offered by cable operators, Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi said.

The viewers can acquire a set-top box for a refundable deposit of Rs 990 and payment of Rs 30 per month for linking channels, he said. There would be no charges on free-to air channels, the minister said, adding that the viewers would pay according to pay channels they opt for instead of paying a fixed tariff varying from Rs 150 to Rs 300 per month currently.

He said the CAS has been notified on July 31 this year for implementation in parts of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata and the entire Chennai by December 31, 2006.

Dasmunsi said an awareness campaign for subscribers in notified areas will be launched for a period of 30 days from the date to be specified by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and it would include multi-system operators, authorised offices and consumer oganisations etc. TRAI could also be included in the campaign, the minister said.

Dasmunsi said the implementation of the CAS was held up earlier due to complaints of consumers regarding the cost of the set-top boxes which was in the range of Rs 5,000-6,000.

Beside, there was no support mechanism for maintenance of these boxes.

The minister said the tariff value of pay channels will be determined after detailed discussion with the TRAI.

He said the viewers also had the choice of switching over to the Direct to Home Service (DTH) system.