Know your CAS options before 31st

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Keywords: Options, Conditional Access System

Mumbai/New Delhi: If you're in Delhi, Mumbai, or Kolkata and instead of partying on December 31 thinking of settling down in front of the TV, you might want to find out what your options are. Remember, CAS is coming to a TV near you on Saturday.

Galaxzee or Incable? Hathway or Siticable? CAS or DTH? If you live in any of the three metros and own a TV, you'll know the kind of choices you'll have to make soon.

CAS, or the Conditional Access system, will be implemented in these metros by December 31. So is it time to panic?

Not quite, because the good news is that your TV won't go blank on you on new year's eve, because you should still be able to watch all the free-to-air channels around.

If you're like Kishore Kuvavala and are 100 per cent confident my cable operator would have given it a thought, then you're probably going to let him give you a set-top box for Rs 1000. You'll have to pay around Rs 120 for rental and free-to-air channels, plus Rs 5 for every pay channel you want to watch.

“My family has wonderful relations with him,” said Kishore Kuvavala.

Galaxzee, launched by Siti Cable has a special combo package at Rs 1800, where you get to keep the set-top box and watch at least 25 pay channels for one year, while Hathway offers 23 pre-selected pay-channels for Rs 85 and 34 such channels for Rs 120.

Or you could do away with your cable operator and go from this to this – Direct-to-Home or DTH. It's more expensive, but has the advantage of being portable.

DishTV has a special offer, where you initially pay Rs 1500 and then Rs 335 a month for over 125 channels.

You'll pay Rs 4000 initially if you take a TataSky connection. But if it's before January 10, you'll watch free cable for six months.

But many consumers are still playing wait-and-watch game.

“People are waking up at the last minute,” said Hathway GM (Operations) Rohinton Dadyburjor.

With new offers coming up everyday, it might be a good idea to be smart about the future of your idiot box.