If this piece of unconfirmed news emanating from Delhi proves true, the industry's wait for legislation on conditional access systems (CAS) may well be over sooner rather than later. 

Reports indicate that the final draft of the CAS report, which had been sent back for reworking following strong protests from sections of the industry vis-a-vis its implications, was completed last night. The original draft was prepared by a the task force headed by Rakesh Mohan, joint secretary, I&B ministry. Reports say a two-man team who worked on the final draft looked at three key areas: 

i) The programme of introduction of CAS. 

ii) What changes in law are required to implement CAS? 

iii) What sort of standards to apply and how to calibrate them into the Indian Bureau of Standards. 

If there has been a decision to move forward on CAS, it will set in motion the beginning of the switchover from the catch-all bouquet of several channels as is the system now to one that makes it mandatory for consumers to pay only for the television channels they watch.