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Tag: DAS

  • DAS stay extended in Madhya Pradesh to 15 May

    DAS stay extended in Madhya Pradesh to 15 May

    NEW DELHI: The Madhya Pradesh high court today extended till 15 May the stay on switch-off of analogue signals in the cities of Indore, Bhopal and Jabalpur covered in Phase II of digitisation.

    The extension came after the Jabalpur bench of the court noted that some of the respondents (mostly multi-system operators) had not filed their replies to the notice issued in the last hearing, and counsel Greesham Jain for one of the petitioners said he had received the replies in some cases just yesterday and wanted more time to file his counter-affidavit.

    The court is hearing five petitions – including a public interest litigation by a lawyer, a consumer body, one LCO including Rashmi Dubey, and one by an MSO run by Nilesh Rawal linked to Digicable – citing shortage of set top boxes, billing issues and some other problems linked to digital addressable system.

    As on 21 April, the status of seeding in Madhya Pradesh was 86.32 per cent in Bhopal, 103.04.per cent in Indore, and 45.84 per cent in Jabalpur.

    Meanwhile the stay in the Andhra Pradesh for the cities of Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam was extended to 4 June. Stay also continues to be in force in Chennai, which was part of Phase I.

  • DAS Stay extended to 4 June in Andhra Pradesh, court wants action taken report from Govt

    DAS Stay extended to 4 June in Andhra Pradesh, court wants action taken report from Govt

    New Delhi: The Andhra Pradesh High Court today extended to 4 June the stay on switch-off of analogue signals in Hyderabad and Vishakhapatnam, even as it expressed its annoyance against the Information and Broadcasting Ministry counsel not giving an action-taken report as directed by the court.

    Adjourning the hearing of six petitions to 4 June, the Court also permitted other parties including the Indian Broadcasting Foundation to be impleaded in the case.

    The division bench headed by the Chief Justice Justice N.V.Ramana posted the case for orders after the vacation.

    The Court also asked the authorities not to take any coercive steps against Multi System Operators (MSOs) for not implementing digital addressability system in Hyderabad and Rangareddy districts.

    The bench which was hearing arguments on a public interest petition passed a single order in five other similar cases including one by an MSO, Mr S V Krishna Mohan and another by the Greater Hyderabad Cable TV Operators Association, that came up for hearing before the bench.

    The petitioner Chalasani Narendra filed the PIL saying the Union of India was ‘scuttling the constitutional rights of the citizens by blocking out the TV Channels in the guise of implementation of Digital Addressability System (DAS) without making any efforts for easy availability of Set Top Boxes (STBs) in the market’.

    He also alleged that the government is also trying to favour the big corporate establishments in the cable and DTH industry in the guise of DAS implementation.

    Hathway had also got itself impleaded in the petition saying that there is no need to extend the time for the implementation of DAS in Hyderabad. Hathway submitted before the High Court that Digitalisation of cable services brings out a lot of undeclared connectivity from the cable operators benefiting the Broadcasters, the government and the MSOs.

    The Indian Broadcasting Foundation submitted that the Court should not grant any more time against the compulsory usage of STBs in Hyderabad.

    According to figures published by the Ministry on 21 April, Hyderabad has 8,81,512 TV households of which 17,37,052 STBs have been installed, including DTH, with the total digitization going up to 193.83 per cent. Vishakhapatnam has 5,42,692 TV households, and only 1,58,291 STBs including DTH have been installed thus taking the percentage to 29.76.

    Stay also continues till 8 May in Jabalpur, Indore, and Bhopal apart from Chennai with petitions pending in Madhya Pradesh and Madras High Courts, even as the Indian Broadcasting Foundation has moved the Supreme Court to ensure these petitions are not entertained.

  • TRAI gives more time to stakeholders to comment on its order relating to pricing of STBs

    TRAI gives more time to stakeholders to comment on its order relating to pricing of STBs

    NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has extended till 3 May, views of stakeholders on its draft tariff orders prescribing standard tariff package for set top boxes in digital addressable cable TV systems (DAS) and consumer premises equipments (CPE) for direct-to-home (DTH) services.

    The previous date was 26 April and the extension is on the request of the stakeholders.

    Under the order, the standard tariff packages for STB/CPE on rental basis are to be offered mandatorily by DTH and cable TV operators.

    The Tariff Order also assumes significance as it attempts for the first time to give inter-operability to consumers of DTH players. The authority is of the view that the interests of the consumers can be largely protected through the provision for commercial interoperability of STB. The commercial interoperability provides an exit option for a subscriber in case he/she wishes to change the operator for any reason.

    Accordingly, in the relevant Regulations/Tariff orders of TRAI, it has been mandated that the operators of Digital Addressable Cable TV Systems and DTH operators shall give an option to every subscriber to procure the STB either on outright purchase basis or hire purchase basis or rental basis, or in accordance with the scheme, if any, prescribed by the authority.

    While interoperability is available to customers of LCOs, TRAI observed that in case of DTH services, ‘the predominant DAS platforms at the moment, the schemes for CPEs offered to the subscribers by the DTH operators, have wide variations and at times are such that no viable exit option is available to the subscribers. Instead the consumer has to re-invest in new hardware in case of migration from a particular operator or platform. The same may also hold well in case of the upcoming Digital Addressable Cable TV Systems.‘

    Standard Tariff Package for STBs for DAS has been worked out. In addition to offering the STB as per the Standard Tariff Package prescribed by the Authority, the operators are free to offer their own schemes for supply of STB to its subscribers in accordance with the existing Regulations/Tariff Orders and the subscribers shall have option to choose from the Standard Tariff Package prescribed by the Authority and the alternative schemes offered by the operators.

    The Standard Tariff Package for Cable TV operators has been worked out on the basis of the following facts and figures as provided by the Industry stakeholders/ Associations:-

    a) The total cost of STB has been taken as Rs 1750.
    b) Life span of STB has been taken as five years.
    c) The residual value has been taken as nil.
    d) Rental per month is based on cost of STB on Equated Monthly Installment (EMI) Basis @15 per cent per annum (@1.25per cent per month) for a period of sixty months.

    The Standard Tariff Package for DTH operators has been worked out on the basis of the following facts and figures as provided by Industry stakeholders/ Associations;

    a) The total cost of CPE has been taken as Rs 2250.
    b) Life span of CPE has been taken as five years.
    c) The residual value has been taken as nil.
    d) Rental per month is based on cost of CPE on Equated Monthly Installment (EMI) Basis @15 per cent per annum (@1.25 per cent per month) for a period of sixty months.

    The authority has also noted that no monthly rentals will be payable after the period of five years and the Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) will become the property of the subscriber (except smart card/viewing card) after the expiry of five years. An amount equal to the sum of security deposit to be refunded per month and interest per month on balance security deposit has been adjusted in Rent per month per CPE. The Full amount of security deposit stands adjusted in a period of five years.

    Up to five years, on returning of the CPE, the Security Deposit shall be refunded, provided that the CPE is not tampered with.

    In case of un-installation/discontinuance of service before the last day of the month, balance security deposit shown as refundable at the end of that month will be refunded on return of CPE.

    No repair or maintenance charges would be levied by DTH operator on the subscriber, towards repair or maintenance of CPE up to the period of five years from activation of the same. The subscriber, however, shall be liable to pay repair and maintenance charges from sixth year onwards.

    No installation charges or re-installation charges (except in case of shifting of connection) or activation charges or smartcard/viewing card charges is to be levied by the DTH operator on the subscriber.

  • Jharkand high court gives Manthan breathing space

    Jharkand high court gives Manthan breathing space

    New Delhi: The Jharkand high court has directed Media Pro not to take any coercive steps against Manthan Broadband Services if the latter has a valid digital access system licence.

    The court bench at Ranchi issued a notice to Media Pro on a petition filed by Manthan Broadband Services against the information & broadcasting ministry and Media Pro.

    The matter was listed by justice Appeaser Kumar Singh for further hearing on 10 May.

    The court took note of the fact that the statutory forum, the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) is not in session at present and is likely to sit only from 10 May.

    The petitioner said he has obtained the DAS licence (as also listed in the Ministry’s website) and is also complying with the orders of TDSAT, but Media Pro has been taking coercive steps against it. These included stopping the transmission of television channels.

  • AP HC adjourns hearing in DAS extension case till 29 April

    AP HC adjourns hearing in DAS extension case till 29 April

    NEW DELHI: The Andhra Pradesh high court today adjourned the hearing of petitions seeking extension of digitisation deadline in Hyderabad and Vishakhapatnam to 29 April. The interim order restraining MSOs from disconnecting analog signals continues in both the cities.

    The court also asked the authorities not to take any coercive steps against Multi System Operators (MSOs) for not implementing digital addressability system (DAS) in Greater Hyderabad city limits.

    The division bench headed by interim Chief Justice N.V. Ramana was hearing public interest litigation and five petitions including one filed by an MSO ICE TV through its CEO S V Krishna Mohan and another by the Greater Hyderabad Cable TV Operators Association.

    The petitioner Chalasani Narendra filed the PIL saying the Union of India was ‘scuttling the constitutional rights of the citizens by blocking out the TV Channels in the guise of implementation of Digital Addressability System (DAS) without making any efforts for easy availability of Set Top Boxes (STBs) in the market‘.

    He also alleged that the government is also trying to favour the big corporate establishments in the cable and DTH industry in the guise of DAS implementation.

    Hathway Cable and Datacom also got itself impleaded in the petition saying that there is no need to extend the time for the implementation of DAS in Hyderabad.

    The court was informed that the nodal officer who is Joint Collector in Hyderabad had written a note to the Information and Broadcasting ministry that only 30 to 40 per cent STBs had been seeded in the state and had sought an extension of three months.

    The note said: ‘As per the information submitted by the MSOs and cable operators approximately 3.4 million consumers are existing, out of which only 30 per cent to 40 per cent STBs are supplied leaving majority of them still waiting for supply of STBs.‘

    According to figures published by the Ministry on 3 April, Hyderabad has 881,512 TV households of which 546,892 STBs had to be installed. Vishakhapatnam has 542,692 TV households, and 466,466 STBs had still to be installed.

  • 88 per cent digitisation achieved in Phase II, says Varma

    88 per cent digitisation achieved in Phase II, says Varma

    NEW DELHI: The level of digitisation has reached around 88 per cent in the 38 cities covered in fourteen states and one union territory for Phase II of Digital Addressable System (DAS), a top Information & Broadcasting ministry official tells Indiantelevision.com.

    This includes seeding of set top boxes (STBs) done by direct-to-home (DTH) operators.

    I&B ministry secretary Uday Kumar Varma reveals that fifteen to sixteen cities have achieved total digitisation.

    However, he cautions that the government was still in the process of collating all the figures and would bring a detailed report after its review. The Secretary said he is personally in constant touch with the Nodal Officers and MSOs to ensure that the cities in remaining states also speed up the process of digitisation.

    He clarified that while announcing the switch-off of analogue on 31 March, the Government said it would watch the situation for around two weeks and was now reviewing the reports coming being receiving on the achievement so far.

    The Ministry had announced last week that analogue signals had been completely switched-off in the five states of Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Haryana, and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

    Stay continues to be in force in the cities of Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Hyderabad, and Visakhapatnam. The metropolis of Chennai which was part of Phase I also has a stay order in force.

    The Karnataka and Gujarat High Courts had yesterday quashed petitions seeking extension of DAS thereby paving way for the analogue signals to be switched-off.

  • DAS extension pleas quashed in Karnataka and Gujarat

    DAS extension pleas quashed in Karnataka and Gujarat

    NEW DELHI/BENGALURU: The information & broadcasting ministry can heave a sigh of relief as the the high courts in Karnataka and Gujarat today dismissed petitions filed by cable operators seeking extension of digitisation.

    The court orders mean that the government can go about systematically switching-off analogue signals in the cities that are covered in the Phase II of the rollout of cable TV digitisation in the two states.

    The Karnataka high court today dismissed a petition filed by Karnataka State Cable TV Operators Association (KSCOA) seeking extension of deadline for implementing digital addressable system (DAS). The KSCOA petition was trashed as the HC found no merits in the case.

    Similarly, the Gujarat high court also dismissed two petitions seeking postponement of digitisation in the four cities in the state. The court also vacated the stay ordered on 28 March in the cities of Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, and Vadodara.

    The decision by the high courts paves the way for switch-off analogue signals in the cities that are covered in Phase II of DAS.

    Expressing satisfaction, Information & Broadcasting ministry secretary Uday Kumar Varma told Indiantelevision.com that the judgements vindicated the government‘s stand that the advent of new technology could not be stopped. He also said that there was no truth in reports about the shortage of set top boxes (STBs).

    KSCOA president Patrick Raju said that he and his legal team would look at a copy of the court order before commenting about further action that his association would take in the matter.

    Among the contentions of the cable operators association in Karnataka was that a large number of cable homes in Bengaluru and Mysore would go dark if DAS is implemented since there isn’t enough supply of STBs.

    The KSCOA and MCOA (Mysore Cable TV Operators Association) had filed separate petitions, which were later clubbed together, seeking relief in the digitisation deadline due to shortage of STBs and lack of clarity on box ownership and many other issues.

    The Cable Operators Association of Gujarat (COAG) in its petition had contended that there was a shortage of STBs and no clarity on acquisition of these boxes. COAG president Pramod Pandya said STBs ordered from China had failed to arrive because of internal problems in that country and therefore the local cable operators could not be penalised for this.

    Also read:

    Gujarat HC dismisses petitions seeking DAS extension

    Karnataka HC dismisses KSCOA petition, paves way for analogue cable switch-off

  • IBF moves Supreme Court over DAS Phase II hold-ups

    IBF moves Supreme Court over DAS Phase II hold-ups

    NEW DELHI: Concerned with the increase in the number of petitions that have been filed in the past two weeks leading to a stay on the spread of cable TV digitisation (Digital Addressable System – DAS) in several states, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) has knocked on the doors of the country‘s apex court seeking a stay on the stay orders issued by different high courts in the country.

    The IBF petition seeks to ensure that digitisation is implemented as scheduled and without any hindrance. The supreme court has posted the matter for hearing on 23 April.

    The special leave petition filed by the IBF did come up before the SC, however the apex court refused to intervene after it was informed that the Karnataka high court judgment on the case was due.

    The bench comprising chief justice Altamas Kabir therefore felt that the court would wait for the Karnataka High Court judgment before taking up the matter.

    In the meanwhile, the Karnataka and Gujarat high courts have dismissed the petition petitions filed by Karnataka State Cable TV Operators Association (KSCOA) and Cable Operators Association of Gujarat (COAG) respectively paving the way for DAS Phase II to commence.

    However, petitions challenging digitisation are still pending in the Andhra Pradesh High Court and Madhya Pradesh High Court. These affect the cities of Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Bhopal. Indore, and Jabalpur.

    According to IBF president Man Jit Singh, the broadcasters association wants a full and final closure on this issue by the Supreme Court so that digitisation can progress smoothly across its various phases as has been drawn up by the government in conjunction with industry.

    Also read:

    DAS extension pleas quashed in Karnataka and Gujarat

    Gujarat HC dismisses petitions seeking DAS extension

    Karnataka HC dismisses KSCOA petition, paves way for analogue cable switch-off

  • Gujarat HC dismisses petitions seeking DAS extension

    Gujarat HC dismisses petitions seeking DAS extension

    NEW DELHI: The Gujarat High Court today dismissed two petitions seeking postponement of Digital Addressable System (DAS) in the four cities in the state that were covered under Phase II of digitisation.

    Justice Rajesh Shukla quashed the petitions filed by Cable Operators Association of Gujarat (COAG) through its President Pramod Pandya and another body of local cable operators from Surat.

    This follows a similar order by the Karnataka High Court earlier in the day striking down Karnataka State Cable TV Operators Association‘s (KSCOA) petition.

    The court also vacated the stay ordered on 28 March in the cities of Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, and Vadodara, thereby allowing the Information & Broadcasting ministry to implement analogue signal switch-off in the state.

    Earlier, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) had impleaded itself as a party in the case in Gujarat, primarily to argue that there should be no delay in DAS.

    In its petition, the COAG had said that there was shortage of set top boxes and no clarity on acquisition of these boxes.

  • Karnataka HC dismisses KSCOA petition, paves way for analogue cable switch-off

    Karnataka HC dismisses KSCOA petition, paves way for analogue cable switch-off

    BENGALURU: Analogue signals in Bengaluru and Mysore are set to be switched off as the Karnataka High Court today dismissed a petition filed by Karnataka State Cable TV Operators Association (KSCOA) seeking extension of deadline for implementing Digital Addressable System (DAS).

    The KSCOA petition was dismissed as the HC found no merits in the case. The cable operators association had contended that a large number of cable TV homes in Bengaluru and Mysore would go dark if DAS is implemented since there isn‘t enough supply of Set Top Boxes (STBs).

    Bengaluru and Mysore are part of 38 cities that were slated to go digital in Phase II of DAS. The deadline for switching off analogue signals was 1 April, however, an interim order passed by Karnataka HC saw the deadline getting dragged by a good two weeks.