Starting July 14, cable operators in the four metropolitan cities in India will have to provide a minimum of 30 free-to-air channels at Rs 72 per month.

Under the new conditional access system, cable operators and multi-system operators will also have to provide a "balanced bouquet" of channels.

Announcing the new policy at a press gathering in Chennai, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Ravi Shankar Prasad, said, "The basic tier service under CAS obligates multi-system operators and cable television operators to provide a minimum of 30 free-to-air channels at Rs 72 per month. The operators are free to provide more but cannot increase the charge."

CAS will come into force in Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata. Prasad said, "The 30 free-to-air channels should include a proper mix of entertainment, education, news, children based programmes, regional content and sports."

The minister, however, was not clear on how the government proposes to ensure that the "bouquet will be balanced."

To access pay channels, viewers would need a set-top box. The minister said, whether the cost of set-top box would be borne by the cable operator or the consumer is something that market would decide.

The policy initiative will not intervene in this area. Prasad said the first decade of 21st century would be a decade of ntertainment. The government will initiate policies that would enable viewer to have a large choice at competitive prices.

Presently there are 100 channels in India. Of these 47 provide news and current affairs and around eight new applications are pending with the ministry, of which five are for news and current affairs.

The I&B minister, voiced his happiness over the marked improvement in the quality of news programmes in Doordarshan, in terms of content, graphics and news readers. However he urged the national news provider to improve its marketing skills.

"The large and invaluable collection of video footage and voices of great national leaders will be put on tape/CD and marketed properly," said Prasad.

The minister also stressed on the scope for exploiting animation industry in India. Prasad said that the film institutes in Pune and Calcutta will provide special courses in animation. This effort will be carried out in collaboration with experts in the field in India and abroad.