New Delhi, Aug 06: Government today denied in the Rajya Sabha any confusion in the implementation of the Conditional Access System (CAS) for viewing pay TV channels which would be introduced in a phased manner in Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai and in one go in Chennai from September 01. Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said this in a statement in response to a calling attention motion moved by Shiv Sena member Sanjay Nirupam and nine others on the CAS and the criteria for uplinking of foreign channels.

On the issue of uplinking, Prasad said ownership and management control should vest in Indian hands and this was a prime concern of government in evolution of the policy for foreign news channels.

He said an Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) had been set up a fortnight back to examine foreign exchange norms/guidelines, particularly relating to uplinking of news and current affairs channels.

"The case of one of the applications seeking uplinking as per extant guidelines is under examination", he said. Bureau Report