The Subhash Chandra-promoted Zee Telefilms, one of the strongest proponents of the conditional access system, on Sunday took a complete U-turn by seeking government permission to exempt it from announcing a la carte prices for channels distributed by Zee Turner.

"We think that a la carte pricing will not be consumer friendly. We feel we can offer a better deal to consumers in a bouquet," said Jawahar Goel, additional vice-chairman, Zee Telefilms.

Zee Turner is the cable distribution joint venture between Zee Telefilms and Turner International.

Zee has so far been supporting the government's stand on CAS and has been in favour of the way it is being implemented.

The government has barred broadcasters from bundling channels to offer to consumers and has asked them to announce a la carte prices for channels.

Goel said the broadcaster was yet to hear from the government on its request.

Zee on Saturday announced the retail price for the Zee Turner bouquet of about 14 pay channels, which has been set at Rs 1.80 per day.

By announcing a la carte pricing and insisting that bundling is consumer-friendly, Zee joins the stand taken by its rivals Star and Sony, who have maintained that broadcasters will be able to offer better discounts and schemes to consumers using bouquets.

Zee Group's cable arm, Siti Cable, also recently came out with an introductory offer for all pay channels at Rs 128, excluding local taxes that are levied on last-mile operators, for subscribers. It will charge another Rs 72, excluding local taxes, for about 60 free-to-air channels.

"The majority of the Siti franchisees have been consulted and they have agreed to forego the pay channel distribution margin in the initial phase of the CAS rollout. Therefore, the price for the total services will come to Rs 200, plus service tax as applicable to the local cable operators," Goel said.

"At this stage, it is difficult for Siti Cable to announce individual channel prices till a survey is conducted and consumers' choices are established in each service locality. For this, the waiver of the compliance is being separately requested from the ministry of information and broadcasting," Siti Cable said in a statement.