Digitisation deadline extended to 31 March in 15 states

A high Level meeting headed by Secretary, Information and Broadcasting, Uday Kumar Varma on Tuesday reviewed the preparedness for Phase II cities, wherein the digitisation deadline in 38 cities in 15 States expires on 31 March 2013. Ministry had issued a notification dated 11th November 2011 notifying Phase-wise digitisation of Analogue Cable Television Networks in India. Digitisation of the Analogue Cable Television Networks was completed in the metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. As on 5 November 2012, 22.4 lakh Set Top Boxes (STBs) have been installed in Mumbai, 25.15 lakh in Delhi, whereas in Kolkata 17.74 lakh STBs have been installed. The matter is sub-judice in the Madras High Court about Chennai. 29 lakh subscribers have DTH connections in the four metro cities. Ministry’s teams have been making extensive field visits to the headends in Mumbai and Delhi to check for violations. Teams have also visited several homes to interact with people and to take a direct feedback about the running of analogue signals. Ministry has asked the MSOs to make a thorough assessment of the number of STBs, taking into consideration credible data from the ground level.