Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today said the government was studying various options under the law to rein broadcasters in to ensure a smooth rollover to conditional access system on July 15.

The government is also examining the option of barring pay channels from airing advertisements. Prasad has asked the ministry officials to look into the matter in the light of the practice across the world.

A day after the meeting convened by the government with broadcasters and cable operators on rates of pay channels ended in a deadlock, Prasad declined to elaborate on the possibilities the government could explore.

He said an option was provided for in the June 6 notification saying pay channels which did not declare their rates would not be beamed after July 15.

"The rates given by broadcasters were not in the spirit of the notification," he said.

"The Prime Minister's message to make CAS consumer-friendly is on my mind. That is my priority," he said.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had asked the ministry to take steps to ensure that CAS was consumer-friendly before its July 15 implementation in the four metros.

The course of action by the government on the rollout of CAS will now be taken after consultations with Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, who will return to the Capital over the weekend, after the Bharatiya Janata Party's chintan baithak in Mumbai.

The information and broadcasting ministry today briefed Brajesh Mishra, principal secretary to the Prime Minister about the latest developments.

Pawan Chopra, secretary, information and broadcasting ministry, met Mishra at the Prime Minister's Office and is understood to have apprised him of yesterday's meeting.

Government sources said the government was considering options like including an amendment to the Cable Television Amendment Act, to regulate the pay television channels.

"One of the options we have is to strengthen the rules and look at ways to regulate the pay television channels. This can be done through an amendment to the Cable Television Act or through specific notifications," a government source said.

After Wednesday's meeting, the government has asked broadcasters to come out with lower prices and solve their differences with cable network operators.

In case they fail to work out an amicable pricing, the channels will either be blacked out or will be offered the option to turn free-to-air.

The government had rejected the prices of pay channels proposed by Rupert Murdoch's Star TV, pointing out that the prices were "excessively high" and "against consumer interest".

CAS problems

• As per the rates being worked out, the prices of all the pay channels and the free-to-air channels will be within Rs 200 and will include the margins of cable operators.
• According to one of the recent notifications by the government, it is the responsibility of the cable operator to notify the rates of all the pay channels.
• The rival broadcasters of Zee, such as Star and Sony, are likely to reject the prices.
• Cable operators asked the government to take stern steps against channels which did not disclose their rates.
• Channels which will not disclose their policy or pricing by June 15 will not be carried by cable networks after July 14 when CAS rolls out in the four metros.