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Tag: Phase-II

  • Tewari says govt pursuing Phase II digitisation deadline

    Tewari says govt pursuing Phase II digitisation deadline

    MUMBAI: Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Minister Manish Tewari said the government will pursue implementation of the second phase of switchover to digital delivery of television channels in 38 cities with population of one million.

    The government has mandated digitisation in the 38 cities by 31 March, after going ahead with the first phase of digitisation in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. The switchover to digital delivery in Chennai is stuck in court proceedings initiated by Tamil Nadu cable operators against digitisation itself.

    “We will stay the course,” Tewari said in response to a question about digitisation in the 38 cities when he was in the city to give away the first edition of International Advertising Association’s leadership awards. He further said, “Phase II digitisation is on track.”

    He said the government has the learning from the implementation of phase I digitisation and expected all the stakeholders to be firmly backing the effort.

    Addressing the advertising fraternity, advertisers and the media, the I&B Minister dwelled on the issues concerning the media and advertising industries. These included freedom of speech with reasonable restrictions, imperfect television audience measurement model, the need to observe advertising regulations on television and self-regulation vs statutory regulation of content.

    He asked all concerned to think whether content can remain in the self-regulation domain, while suggesting an overarching statutory mechanism to address issues related to convergence across media, entertainment and telecom.

    Tewari assured the media and advertising industries that they will be taken into confidence before taking any decision on any of the contentious issues.

  • Govt expects smooth digitisation in 38 cities in Phase II

    Govt expects smooth digitisation in 38 cities in Phase II

    MUMBAI: The government expects a smooth transition to digital delivery of cable television in 38 cities by 31 March in the second phase, after achieving near total digitisation in the metros of Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata.

    Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Minister Manish Tewari informed Parliament that he did not anticipate any hurdles in the implementation of digital addressable system in phase II where 38 cities having more than one million population will switchover from analogue transmission from 31 March 2013.

    Digitisation in the southern metro of Chennai, where cable television was to switch over to digital from1 November along with the other three metros, has hit a hurdle as cable operators have sought more time.

    Tewari said the matter was sub-judice in the case of Chennai, where a petition challenging digitisation is pending in the Madras High Court.

    He said the ministry was in constant touch with the multi-system operators (MSOs) to assess and monitor the availability and seeding of set-top boxes (STBs), which were required for delivery of digital signals on to television sets.

    He clarified that the entire cost of digitisation would be borne by the industry. According to an estimate by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) in June 2010, the fund requirement for DAS at all India level was of the order of Rs 200 to Rs 500 billion.

    There is no scheme for providing any economic relief to consumers in the implementation of DAS, he added.

    On the phase I of digitisation, Tewari said a total of 8.10 million set-top boxes (STBs) were installed in the four metros as on 4 December.