Cable operators who are still airing paid channels without set top boxes (STBs) in New Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata may soon come under the telecom regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) scanner.

“We do not want to punish MSOs (multi system operators or cable companies that operate more than one TV cable system), and would like to persuade them, but analogue transmission is an offence and we will take action against those who do not shift to the digital regime,” Trai chairman Nripendra Mishra told The Indian Express.

Trai has sent a two member team to take stock of the implementation of CAS in the three metros. “The memory of 2003 still looms large and so people were not prepared. But CAS is here to stay. The shortage in STBs is because of operators who did not plan. Some of the smaller MSOs are still not ready to provide STBs.”

Mishra also said that the broadcast regulator aims to bring digitalisation to the entire country before the Commonwealth Games in 2010. Trai will hold a meeting with broadcasters in this regard in early February. CAS is mandatory only in Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai right now.