MUMBAI: The broadcast regulator announced today it had set up a committee whose mandate was to work on the various issues relating to cable television and provide inputs to the Telecom Authority of India (Trai) to finalise regulations in this regard.

The special panel has representation from Trai and the four state governments that fall under the conditional access rollout map - Delhi, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.
Trai has said it is writing to the chief secretaries of these states to nominate suitable officers as members of the committee.

The announcement follows a meeting Trai had yesterday with representatives of the four state governments. These latest moves on the regulator's part follow its recommendation issued on Monday that CAS be either denotified or kept in abeyance for a period of three months.

A day after it's decision to push for the shelving of CAS, Trai on Tuesday said cable subscription rates for CAS zones in the interim period would be announced after getting a reply from the government.

The ambit of the special committee is to study:

*Various problems faced by state governments in the implementation of CAS.

*Extent of acceptance of CAS by subscribers.

*Extent of competition in Cable TV Services in the four metro cities.

* Issues relating to prices of Pay Channels vis-?-vis bouquet of channels.

* Promotion of competition through introduction of DTH and Broadband services.