New Delhi, July 06: Taking strong exception to the "misleading" statements of certain pay broadcasters expressing reservations on the proposal of Rs 72 for all channels from August, government today said it was a clear deviation from the agreed roadmap for CAS and said any attempt to derail the process would not be tolerated. Upset with broadcasters, government is in no mood to relent and is resolved that charging more than this amount after September one for non-notified areas would be punishable under the law, highly placed government sources said.
While the broadcasters claim the agreement reached at Friday's meeting was that Rs 72 plus taxes for all channels was a "honeymoon time" to be given to each zone in the metros for the month preceding the one when it comes under the CAS regime, government said all consumers would get this benefit from August till the time they get notified for CAS.
Government sees the broadcasters' interpretation as an attempt to "derail CAS, mislead the public and cause confusion" and is not prepared to tolerate this approach, the sources said.
Representatives of all stakeholders - broadcasters, multi-system operators and cable operators - had conveyed the new proposals to Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday following which the government issued a release yesterday saying blackout of any pay channel from August one would be seen as the broadcasters' own choice of not wanting to give signals to the cable operators, they said.
Bureau Report