Trivialising the press meet

Venkatachari Jagannath
07 February 2004

Is the inability of non-pay viewers to enjoy cricket matches telecast by a pay channel, after the introduction of the conditional access system (CAS), the most important issue faced by the people of Chennai?

Well that is what one would believe at the volley of questions fielded by reporters at the union minister of state for information and broadcasting, Ravi Shankar Prasad, at the press conference organised by the Press Information Bureau (PIB). Present on the dais was K S Sarma, Chief Executive Officer, Prasar Bharati.

The tenor of questions was that Chennai viewers were being treated as guinea pigs while rest of India's viewers were better off without CAS. Curiously such questions were asked by the reporters of pay-view satellite channels.

At one point Prasad himself got tired of Chennai's upwardly mobile middle class-centric CAS questions.

Much has been written about the arbitrary hike in charges by the pay channels and the arrogant attitude of multi system operators (MSO) and cable operators. A cable operator had arrogantly asked a housewife to fall at his feet to get her cable connection.