Today television produces media brands that are possibly closest to a consumer. And therefore he is much more involved with what is happening around television - the main mode of entertainment for an overwhelming majority of Indians.

While almost every advertiser and channel is busy framing scenarios when CAS rolls-out, no group - and this includes the government and the MSOs - has bothered to speak with the consumer whose response is finally going to determine whether this initiative works or not.

Therefore, we decided to take this matter right to the proverbial "people's court" to gauge what is the maximum he is willing to shell out to get conditional access to programming he has intertwined his daily routine around. Besides, the larger issue was to validate any conversion factor of current C&S HHs into CAS HHs.

• 80% of the consumers are aware of CAS and the deadline before which they have to get a STB
• Three out of every four consumers feel CAS is going to increase their monthly cable bill
• Only one out of four upper-end HHs (SEC ABC) willing to buy set-top boxes immediately
• A viewer is not willing to pay more than Rs 625 on an average in deposit for a set-top box
  

Some of these findings may come as kind of a surprise to most of us. First, all the CAS efforts were aimed at reducing the monthly cable burden for the consumer, right! And second, none of us really thought the consumer was following it so closely. This first-ever agency research carried out by Starcom Worldwide and Hansa Research Group to understand the viewer's viewpoint on CAS shows that not only is the consumer aware of CAS, he is also quite apprehensive of how it is going to affect his life.

Methodology: This research was conducted among chief wage earners in SEC ABC HHs across Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata & Chennai through telephone. A total of 413 respondents participated in this research.

Low willingness to buy set-top boxes immediately. Majority of Delhi respondents (57%) are still undecided whether they would buy or not. 70% of Kolkatans would not buy it immediately. However, in Chennai and Mumbai, 1/3rd of respondents would buy immediately

Assessing the price-elasticity: More importantly, while 56% respondents said they would buy a set-top box if priced at Rs 2,000, this number fell exponentially as we moved to the second price-point. Only 16% people were willing to buy it at Rs 4,000, and only 2% at Rs 8,000. This indicates the price-elasticity of demand for set-top boxes is very high.

Delhi and Kolkata want to buy STBs while Mumbai and Chennai would rather rent it. While Delhi and Kolkata respondents are willing to pay as much as Rs 870 and Rs 720 respectively as security deposit for STBs, respondents in Mumbai and Chennai would pay only around Rs 550 in deposit.

Pros and cons of CAS as viewers perceive it - cost the most important issue. 30% of respondents realize the promise that CAS would help them not pay for the channels they don't want to watch. However, 23% of respondents also count it as a problem as CAS is expensive. Rest of the factors is counted by less than 10% of respondents as a significant plus point or a negative.
Except Mumbai, in all other metros the expected post-CAS cable bill is lower than the current cable bill. In Mumbai the respondents believe post-CAS their bill would go up marginally.
This might be largely dictated by the fact that most of the respondents are not planning to buy STBs initially. Therefore the minimum bill for FTA channels would lead the average post-CAS cost.

Over 75% of the respondents would not buy a set-top box till things settle down around CAS. While 1/3rd of respondents have no idea about what STB quality might be like, over half of respondents expressed concern that it might not be of good quality and they might have to buy it again. Also, while 1/3rd of respondents are still unclear, 43% of the respondents feel they might have to buy a new STB every time they have to move to a new locality/cable operator.

In sum, an extremely value-conscious viewer: While family soaps are really close to his heart, the consumer is quite willing to wait and watch till the time the mist clears around CAS. Besides, he is quite clear about the kind of money he is willing to pay as deposit/rent for the STBs. Again, over 3/4th of viewers have given their mandate that they refuse to be pushed into accepting a given situation. He would take his time in working out the best price-value equation, even if it means losing out on his favorite programs for a while.

However, if government and associated players are able to present to him a way in which he can select and pay for only the channels that he wants to view, thus bringing down his monthly cable bill, he would be really happy (over 75% of respondents).

Since the price-elasticity for STBs is very high, penetration of STBs during the initial months would be driven by the price-value equation the government and industry players can offer.

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