Defends a senior Zee official: ``We have distributors all over the country who have been talking to cable operators about Zee News turning digital. We have already sent them mailers and made announcements in the trade magazines regarding this channel going digital.'' After Zee News has been made into a digital channel, all Zee channels except its entertainment channel-Zee TV-are digital.

Decoder trouble: Zee News goes off screen But even though cable operators are aware about Zee News turning digital, they're not willing to shell out big money to acquire the receiver. According to the Zee official, the receiver set costs around Rs 10,000. But Zee has announced a scheme which allows cable operators to take the receiver on rent. For the Zee rental scheme, cable operators need to pay Rs 4,000 as a refundable deposit and Rs 100 per month as rent.

However, say cable operators that Zee's entertainment channel Zee TV, and its news channel Zee News, which were the only analogue channels so far, have been the most popular in the bouquet. So, many cable operators, particularly WIN, in which Star has a considerable stake, and some individual cable operators, have been showing only Zee TV and Zee News on their network. Now with Zee News turning digital, those operators are not willing to purchase digital receivers for just one channel, because they are not interested in showing the other digital channels such as Zee Alpha and Zee Movies, according to a prominent cable operator.

The problem revolving around digital receivers is compounded by the fact that mostly digital receivers being used by cable operators are channel- specific, says Mr Fuzail Waris, who heads a Spectranet cable network. For instance, a receiver being used for the channels under the Star bouquet cannot be used for the Zee bouquet of channels. And that is where the problem lies, Mr Waris explains.

But there are some digital channels such as TV5, FTV, BBC and a host of Southern channels, which can be accessed with universal digital receivers. But Star and Zee digital channels cannot be accessed with the help of these universal digital receivers, says Mr Waris. TV Today's Aaj Tak channel, which was launched recently, also faced a similar receiver problem.

Commenting on the scenario, Ms Roop Sharma, president, Cable Operators' Federation of India, says: ``With every other channel deciding to go digital and pay now, the government should introduce the conditional access system (CAS) as soon as possible.'' With the help of CAS, a subscriber gets to watch what he wants and pays for only that. Say onlookers that although Zee News continues to be a free to air channel despite becoming a digital channel, it is expected to become a pay channel soon.