It is not just Subhash Chandra and his Zee TV that have struck a discordant note vis-୶is the Indian Broadcasting Federation‘s (IBF) opposition to the government‘s moves to introduce conditional access system (CAS).

Free-to-air channel Sahara TV, also an IBF member, in an official release issued yesterday decried the decision of the IBF committee to oppose CAS.

Terming the IBF‘s opposition to the proposed CAS as a ‘factional and anti-consumer move‘, Sumit Roy, head of Sahara TV, a free-to-air channel, said that the IBF had not taken a majority of its members into confidence while opposing the government‘s move to amend the Cable TV Regulation Act.

"The IBF on Friday, 10 May, had called for a select meeting of channel heads who opposed the Centre‘s move to the proposed amendment in the Cable Regulation Act. Surprisingly, all those channels which are free to air and form a majority in the Indian broadcasting industry were not invited to the meeting despite being key members," the release states.

Roy said that the decision of a fraction of the IBF could not be constituted as the "voice of the Indian broadcasting industry" as it urgently required a broad-based review and debate among all the industry players.