A number of things:
[*] What you describe as "conditional access" and "CAS" are one and the same thing. It's just that colloquially it's easier to refer to the now CAS altered cable
TV system as CAS, as opposed to DTH & IPTV. All 3 mediums are based on conditional access.
[*] I think the term I used was that I was "holding out" for Airtel IPTV, which appropriately conveys that I have no choice since this whole CAS system is being forced onto consumers, and hence I am trying to choose the lesser of all evils.
[*] I am a huge proponent of standards of quality, and was indeed very frustrated with the low quality of video feed in cable. But as I mentioned in my last post, my main criticism is that the increase in quality is not at all proportionate to the increase in price. In simpler terms, though the price has doubled, the quality has not. e.g. Hathway's EPG is a joke, where many times the programme names are incorrect, and synopses of programmes are most of the time missing.
[*] It has screwed poorer people in real terms. They now have to pay double of what they were paying or lump it with shitty free-to-air channels. But yes there is grayness in that statement when considering that the cable-wallahs in giving connections to servant quarters were not acting 100% legitimately.
[*] My point merely is that this is not the best thing to happen to cable TV as seems to be your opinion, especially when considering what coud have actually been achieved.
[*] I my be wrong about this, but AFAIK there are three providers that provide cable-CAS - Hathway, Siticable and Incable, and which one you end up getting seems to be entirely dependent on which one your cable-wallah strikes a deal with. So where's the consumer choice?
[/list]Here's what I think should have been done:
[*] Before launching all this hoo-haa, the companies should have done adequate testing of all their software and ensuring that the 'cool' services they are offering via CAS such as EPG are setup to function well.
[*] STBs should have been developed indigenously instead of importing them. We have some smart people in this country, and I cannot accept that we cannot replicate such simple technology in-house.
[*] DVRs should have been developed indigenously as well, and rolled out on Jan 1 with the rest of CAS.
[*] Some other functionality should have been introduced in STBs such as deleting and moving channels. If I don' t want to see Star Plus or some other channel that sucks IMO then I should have the capability to remove it. If I want to have Star World next to HBO, let me. I can only imagine this to be a simple modification to their software, and something quite feasible. Yet, these are things they have not perhaps even thought of,much less implement.
[*] I am not privy to inside information, but it doesn't occur to me that the persons concerned even entertained the idea of bringing in HDTV standards. If we are making such a fundamental change to the way people watch TV, then let's just skip the intermediary step of adopting 10-year old technology and go straight to HDTV, or at least have it as an option for people willing to pay as much. The US is trying to make HDTV the standard for all TV transmission by the end of this decade, so instead of following in their footsteps why don't we walk with them?
[/list]So in a nutshell, my criticism is that although CAS has been brought under the ambit of improving things for consumers, the ones it really is helping are the MSOs, DTH providers, and STB manufacturers who will see a massive exponential burst in their revenue.
Note: I am not saying that the consumer has not benefited at all. Yes, the picture quality has improved. But not as much as it could have. Yes, it about time EPGs were introduced. But please, implement it properly.
