EntMnt Xclusive Cable Digitization Phase II Current Status

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Cable Digitization Phase II Current Status

Total Cities getting digitized in Phase II - 38 Cities
Total Households - 1.6 crore
Digitization Achieved - 75%

 

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85% Phase II digitisation has been achieved : I&B Ministry



Out of the 38 cities, 15 cities have achieved nearly 100%, 24 cities in all have achieved more than 75% and 34 cities have achieved more than 50% Digitization.

The review by the Ministry also reveals that as against a target of 160 lakh Set Top Boxes (STBs), 136 lakh STBs have already been installed by the Multi System Operators (MSOs) and Direct to Home (DTH) Operators. The total number of installed Cable TV STBs stands at 91.5 lakhs whereas DTH operators have installed a total of 44.5 lakhs STBs.

In three States i.e., Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, stay orders have been given by Hon’ble High Courts on the switch off of the analogue signals till further orders. The process of digitization, however, in other cities is in full swing. MSOs have reported that there is huge demand for STBs which is being met by increased supply of STBs by air lifting of STBs.

Nodal Officers have reported to the Ministry that in 5 states i.e Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Haryana and Union Territory of Chandigarh, analogue signals have been completely switched off.



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Analogue switch off delayed till 8 May in Madhya Pradesh – High Court

Today, cable operators of Madhya Pradesh got a relief from the High Court as the court after accepting their petition has stayed the Analogue switch off till 8th May. They were total five cases filed in the High Court which were clubbed together and include 2 cases from consumer bodies and one case from Digicable MSO.

This is the fourth case in progress now. Two more cases, one in J&K and one in Lucknow High Court are expected to be filed in this week against the unreasonable regulations for implementing DAS framed by the Government.

Another three cases, one in Karnataka, one in Gujarat High Court and one in Andhra High Court are in progress and will be heard tomorrow on 16th April 2013. These cases have also being filed by Cable Operators Associations of these states against analogue switch off requesting for an extension of the deadline due to shortage of STBs and impractical and unfair regulations made by TRAI.

The deadline for the 2nd phase has already passes on 31st March 2013 and I&B Ministry did not agree to extend it further claiming that 85 percent of success has already been achieved in 38 cities of Phase-2 in seeding the STBs and many cities have reached 100% penetration. However, according to cable operators most of the cities have not achieved more than 40 percent of seeding. They say that the Ministry to save its face is adding the STBs of DTH in Cable TV figures giving an impression that so many households have already been digitized.

According to Roop Sharma, COFI President, the new law that amended the Cable TV Act in 2011, was made for digitization of Cable TV and not TV households. If Government wanted to digitize all the TV households, it should have taken all the 155 million TV households in the country as the base which included terrestrial TV households which are still analogue, DD Direct Plus DTH of Doordarshan which is digital but not addressable, DTH households and IPTV households.

The existing regulations are meant only for migration of Cable TV to digital technology because DTH is already digital since 2004 when it was introduced, added Mrs. Sharma.


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As of April 17, statistics shared by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting revealed that 80.72 per cent television sets had switched to digital connections. This included direct-to-home (DTH) connections, which accounts for 21.61 per cent of the total of 22.68 lakh television sets.

In Mysore, the digitisation figures stand at 65.1 per cent, with DTH again accounting for around 21 per cent.

Digitisation at 80 p.c. in Bangalore - The Hindu

 

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Information & braodcasting ministry secretary Uday Kumar Varma - along with his ministerial team - has almost singlehandedly been working on aggregating and consolidating India's fragmented cable TV sector by pressing the digitisation accelerator and pushing the members of the ecosystem to forge ahead no matter what.

His touch stance seems to be working if one goes by the numbers that he announced today. Speaking to indiantelevision.com, Varma stated that almost 99 per cent digitisation had been achieved in the 38 cities that were part of Phase II of Digital Addressable System (DAS) for cable television.

Phase II digitisation 99% complete