The Union Cabinet gave the go-ahead to bring about amendments to The Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 to allow the imposition of conditional access systems in India a few minutes ago by government regulation. The clearance came in the form of an "enabling provision", which means that the government can - if it chooses to - push ahead with CAS when it chooses to exercise that power. The Union Cabinet met today amidst speculation in the television trade that it would not be able to do so as a function in Parliament was keeping it busy. But the meeting was postponed to 7 pm and CAS was included in the agenda..

A time frame was not decided when CAS would be given the push by government, but a government official stated that he was hopeful that since the amendments have been cleared they should go to parliament in this session. "We are hopeful it will be passed by the House before it adjourns on 16 May." .

The go-ahead to CAS is going to cause a lot of heartburn amongst broadcasters, who have been opposing it, saying it has to be carried out in a proper manner. In fact, Star Asia boss James Murdoch had blasted the CAS initiative by the government, and had been making presentations to government against it, saying that broadcasters would lose even the minimum basic subscriptions revenues that they were generating from cable TV ops because of CAS.

Contrary to expectations the move to bring about amendments to cable TV regulations did not meet with much opposition from the cabinet. The Rakesh Mohan committee had also recommended that the rollout of CAS be done in a phased manner beginning with the metros first.

Ten Sports CEO Chris McDonald in a late night statement today denied that any negotiations were on between DD and Ten Sports for delayed telecasts of the FIFA World Cup.

Quoting the statement he said: "In order to allow as many households as possible in India to enjoy the World Cup soccer, Ten Sports had offered to DD to buy suitable time slots on the network as per their standard rate card. For reasons best known to them DD has rejected this offer."

Earlier in the day, a senior Prasar Bharati official had told indiantelevision.com that the pubcaster was considering whether Ten Sports should be "charged prime time telecast fee or the normal telecast fee for the time band when the soccer matches are telecast."

The Prasar Bharati official had also pointed out that DD has no other option but to telecast the soccer matches on a deferred basis as Ten Sports has claimed it has exclusive telecast rights for the India region.

Despite the telecast imbroglio, officials of Prasar Bharati, the corporation which oversees the working of DD and the All India Radio, feel that there would be viewership of the soccer matches on DD even on a deferred basis as Ten Sports‘ penetration still leaves much to be desired.

In a move timed to capitalise on the football fever on the eve of the World Cup, Discovery Channel has announced a series of documentaries about the game.

The varied football programming, which MD Deepak Shourie claims is an outcome of the channel‘s focus on shows that are entertaining, educative and relevant to all viewer groups includes the history of the game, behind the scenes accounts and the business of the game.

The History of Football, a series that started on 4 April covers the multi dimensional cultural, social and political aspects of the game every Thursday at 10 pm takes viewers on a journey through the origins of the game, and what football means to different cultures.

Planet Soccer, a show that airs on 31 May and 23 June at 8 pm will be hosted by Ian Wright and deals with the football fever currently sweeping Korea and Japan.

Football Dreams on 31 May at 9 pm puts a marketing spin on the game from the Asian perspective. It deals with the region‘s soccer players as well as their agents and managers.

Ultimate Goal on 23 June at 7 pm will discover the blood and sweat involved in making the 2002 World Cup a reality. The show will feature the man responsible for the incredible floating pitch in Japan?s Sapporo stadium. The show also looks at the manner in which the Osaka police are being coached in martial arts to cope with rowdy overseas fans.