The government has to postpone the deadline for digitization by four months to November 1, 2012 as only 25% of set top boxes are placed in Cable TV homes in four major metro cities. This news came on this Wednesday.
The I & B
Ministry had earlier mandated that cities of Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai
switch to digital TV by June 30. This was also the Supreme Court order.
The move could make
significant financial losses to many parties, especially the broadcasters,
multi system operators and others who have invested in equipment and various
awareness campaigns and were also expecting to begin this much awaited digital
operation by July. Digitization is expected to benefit the viewer with a wider
choice of channels and better quality, both sound-wise and picture-wise. So it
was quite a likely move.
The I & B
Ministry said that it had decided to modify the June 30 deadline for a complete
switchover to October 31, 2012. A statement by the ministry said: “All the TRAI
regulations for digital addressable systems will come into effect from November
1, 2012.
The delay could be
reflected in the ambitious switchover to digital cable services in the entire
country by December 2014. A ministry official said: “Only one-fourth of TV
viewing houses have access to set top boxes. There was also a delay by TRAI in
introducing the tariff order that came in late April instead of January.”
There were delays in signing interconnect
agreements between cable operators and MSOs. Sources said that all MSOs were
expected to put in place a consumer redressal system, consisting a complaint
centre with toll free consumer care number and web based complained monitoring
system, among others. While Delhi and Mumbai are expected to be completely
digitized by September, Chennai and Kolkata may take little more time.
State governments
including Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu had asked for an additional six months
time to complete the full switchover into the digitization. But West Bengal had
not even indicated a time frame. “All stake holders have been asked to give a
written commitment that will be monitored closely,” a senior official said.