New Delhi, July 02: With CAS still in disarray less than a fortnight before its implementation, the Prime Minister's Office is understood to have called the broadcasters today and discussed the issue. The meeting comes just two days after government described as "on the higher side" the rates of pay channels quoted by broadcasters at a meeting with Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and ministry.
In the first meeting with broadcasters on the issue, media advisor to Information and Broadcasting Minister and additional secretary in the PMO Sudhendra Kulkarni met Peter Mukherjee (Star), Manu Sahni (ESPN), Kunal Dasgupta (Sony) and Deepak Shourie (Discovery), sources said.

Though details of the meeting were not immediately known, sources said the meeting was called by the PMO.
Prasad has met Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on CAS twice and was directed to ensure that CAS is consumer friendly. The Minister said all channels would be available for Rs 200, a promise that seemed far from reality going by the broadcasters' rates.
Rates quoted by broadcasters came to much over Rs 200 for the free-to-air and five popular pay channels-- Sony, Star Plus, Zee, ESPN and Star Sports at Monday's meeting, a little lower than the ones given earlier.
The MRP rates given by broadcasters were Star Plus (Rs 24), Sony (Rs 20), ESPN (Rs 29) and Star Sports (Rs 29). While Star Plus and Star Movies together have been priced at Rs 44, Set Max, Sony and Discovery combined will cost Rs 44 and ESPN and Star Sports Rs 32.

Bureau Report