ITV

Tag: STB

  • I&B minister Manish Tewari’s update on Phase II digitisation data

    I&B minister Manish Tewari’s update on Phase II digitisation data

    New Delhi: The level of cable television digitisation in 38 cities in 14 states and one union territory of Phase II has touched 89.8 per cent, including 28.33 per cent DTH homes as on 21 April, three weeks after analogue switch-off.

    Thus, a total of 14,379,454 digital set top boxes have been seeded out of a total demand of 16,013,059 total TV households. The houses where STBs have been installed include 4,536,676 DTH subscribers.

    According to a report presented to parliament by information & broadcasting minister Manish Tewari yesterday, the total number of TV households has been computed by making provision of twenty per cent for multiple TVs in offices/shops or homes.

    Pointing out that a toll free number receives complaints from subscribers and others, Tewari said these are normally forwarded to the multi-system operators in the area concerned.

    14 cities have already crossed the 100 per cent with Hyderabad at the top with 191.07 per cent followed by Ludhiana (175.91 per cent), Allahabad (160.46 per cent), Faridabad (142.69 per cent), Chandigarh (119.23 per cent), Meerut (112.24 per cent), Jaipur (111.84 per cent), Varanasi (111.78 per cent), Amritsar (111.03 per cent), Thane (109.33 per cent), Jodhpur (107.94 per cent), Aurangabad (103.37 per cent), Indore (102.29 per cent), and Nasik (101.75 per cent).

    By the government’s own claim, Ghaziabad, Pune and Kanpur have crossed the 90 per cent mark.

    Srinagar stands at the bottom with 22.28 per cent seeding of STBs, with Visakhapatnam at 29.61 per cent, Coimbatore at 29.74 per cent, and Jabalpur with a DAS reach of only 45.32 per cent. All the other 17 cities have crossed the 57 per cent mark.

    The ministry had announced earlier this month that analogue signals has been completely switched-off in the five states of Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Haryana, and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

    DAS continues to be stayed in the cities of Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Hyderabad, and Visakhapatnam. The Karnataka and Gujarat High Courts had learlier this month quashed petitions seeking extension of DAS thereby paving way for the analogue signals to be switched-off. In addition, stay continues in Chennai which was part of Phase I because of court case.

    The Supreme Court is expected to hear tomorrow a special leave petition by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation seeking to quash all pending cases in various high courts and also ensure there is no postponement of the date of digitisation.

  • Allahabad HC reaffirms I&B ministry role in case of STB non-availability

    Allahabad HC reaffirms I&B ministry role in case of STB non-availability

    NEW DELHI: The Allahabad high court has clarified that that the information and broadcasting ministry has been mandated under the Cable TV Networks Rules 1994 to make interim arrangements if any subscriber complains he has not been able to get a set top box from his cable operator.

    A division bench of justice Uma Nath Singh and justice Satish Chandra while dealing with a case recently, quoted from an earlier judgment in this regard to say that the rules drawn up by the ministry were clear on this issue.

    (For the consumers, this judgment implies that they are free to approach the ministry in the event of the multi-system operator or the local cable operator not fulfilling the mandate of supplying the STB. The ministry has already set up a toll free number and complaints from consumers or LCOs relating to STBs or other aspects relating to digitisation are already being passed on to the concerned MSO, I and B minister Manish Tewari told the Parliament yesterday.)

    The court dismissed as without merit a petition by the Uttar Pradesh Cable Operators Welfare Association through its president Anil Upadhyay.

    In its petition, the association had sought extension of time as it said that there was shortage of digital set top boxes even as it fully supported digital access systems. It was stated that in UP, the STBs are not available in sufficient quantity, as it is an imported item mainly from China. There is no workshop in the state for repair of the set top boxes.

    In his arguments, additional solicitor general of India K C Kaushik said that digitisation was almost complete in UP as 100 per cent work has already been done in the Districts – Ghaziabad, Meerut, Varanasi and Allahabad – and 82 to 86 per cent work had already been done in the cities of Kanpur, Lucknow and Agra up to 14 April.

    Interestingly, the court in its judgment said ‘the set top box is not compulsory but is an option for the consumer, who wants to avail the better signals or selected channels. Further for providing better (digital) signals, there are many service providers, other than the petitioners, like DTH.‘

    While dismissing the case for extension of time, the court referred to another judgment of the Court in a related case by the Lucknow Metro Cable Operators Association wherein that court had said ‘Rule 13 (5) of the Rules contains a provision that in the event of failure of the concerned operator to supply and install a Set Top Box, the respondent (information and broadcasting ministry) may, in order to protect the interest of subscribers, take interim measure to ensure supply of signals. Under Rule 14, the ministry has been empowered to resolve dispute of various kinds including arrangements for handling complaints and redressal of grievances of the subscribers. The authority may also look into the efficacy of such arrangements and issue necessary directions to the concerned parties for compliance.‘

    That order had also pointed out that it was clear that all consumers were not aware of digitisation. ‘It is natural that everybody may not be aware whether there has been proper public awareness campaign about DAS scheme or not, and whether supply and installation of set top box has been carried out as required by Rule 13 of the Rules‘, that order had said.

  • Digitisation penetration reaches 90 per cent, says Varma

    Digitisation penetration reaches 90 per cent, says Varma

    NEW DELHI: Three weeks after the switch-off of analogue signals in a majority of the 38 cities covered under Phase II, the level of digitisation has touched ninety per cent, according to information& broadcasting ministry secretary Uday Kumar Varma.

    The I&B ministry secretary told Indiantelevision.com that a total of fifteen cities have crossed 100 per cent digitisation, while one more city has crossed 98 per cent digitisation mark. Another three cities have crossed a level of 90 per cent, he added.

    He also asserted that there is no shortage of set top boxes (STBs) in the Phase II cities.

    The government, he said, was still in the process of collating all the figures from the nodal officers and would bring a detailed report after its review.

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

    The ministry had announced earlier this month that analogue signals has been completely switched-off in the five states of Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Haryana, and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

    Meanwhile stays continued to be in force in the cities of Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Hyderabad, and Visakhapatnam. The Karnataka and Gujarat high courts had last week quashed petitions seeking extension of DAS thereby paving way for the analogue signals to be switched-off.

    Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is expected to hear tomorrow a special leave petition by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation seeking to quash all pending cases in various high courts and also ensure there is no postponement of the date of digitization.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Trai issues draft tariff package for STBs/CPEs for DTH and cable TV ops

    Trai issues draft tariff package for STBs/CPEs for DTH and cable TV ops

    NEW DELHI: In order to ensure a smooth migration of customers from one service provider to another without having to re-invest in a new STB, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) today issued 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 services.

    The standard tariff packages for STB/CPE on rental basis are to be offered mandatorily by DTH and cable TV operators. The draft tariff orders have been put on the TRAI site to seek comments of stakeholders by 26 April.

    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 the subscriber 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. The relevant provisions of various Trai Regulations/ Tariff Order in this regard are attached as Appendix-I.

    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 good in case of the upcoming Digital Addressable Cable TV Systems.‘

    The authority is of the view that in order to, provide an easy exit option to the subscribers, ensure availability of STBs at reasonable cost and terms and at the same time to protect the interest of the service providers a Standard Tariff Package, for STBs, as provided for in the existing Regulations/Tariff Orders be prescribed by the Authority.

    Accordingly 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.

    Authority has observed that The operators are offering to its subscribers various types of STBs having different features/ capabilities such as “recording facility”, “Internet/broadband compatibility”, “High definition/ 3D reception capability” etc., in addition to the basic functionalities. Since for such STBs there would be wide variations in terms of features and cost and hence the Standard Tariff Package is provided only for the basic/ vanilla STBs meant for reception of Standard Definition TV signals (SDTV) conforming to the relevant Indian Standard set by the Bureau of Indian Standards.

    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 5 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 annum (@1.25% per month) for a period of 60 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 5 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 annum (@1.25% per month) for a period of 60 months.

    The authority has also noted that no monthly rentals will be payable after the period of five years and the Customer Premises Equipment 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 Customer Premises Equipment. The Full amount of security deposit stands adjusted in a period of five years.

    Up to five years, on returning of the Customer Premises Equipment, the Security Deposit shall be refunded as per attached table-B, provided that the Customer Premises Equipment 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 Customer Premises Equipment.

    No repair or maintenance charges would be levied by DTH operator on the subscriber, towards repair or maintenance of Customer Premises Equipment up to the period of five years from activation of the Customer Premises Equipment. 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.

  • Stay continues in Karnataka and Gujarat as courts adjourn hearing to 10 April

    Stay continues in Karnataka and Gujarat as courts adjourn hearing to 10 April

    NEW DELHI/BENGALURU: The stay on digitisation of cable television will continue in six cities of Gujarat and Karnataka as the High Courts in both the states decided to continue hearing tomorrow of the petitions filed against the digital addressable system (DAS) on the ground of shortage of set top boxes (STBs).

    The stay on switching off analogue signals has been put off till further orders in the cities of Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, and Vadodara as the counsel for the Union of India could not appear for the hearing due to personal reasons. The matter has been adjourned for tomorrow.

    Justice Rajesh Shukla of the Gujarat High Court directed the petitioner Cable Operators Association of Gujarat through its president Pramod Pandya to file by tomorrow his rejoinder to the affidavit filed by the Information & Broadcasting ministry.

    Justice S Abdul Nazeer of the Karnataka High Court also extended the stay in Bengaluru and Mysore after the hearing writ petition filed by the Karnataka State Cable TV Operators Association (KSCOA) remained inconclusive. The hearing will continue tomorrow.

    The petitioners, Karnataka State Cable TV Operators (KSCOA), and one set of respondents -the MSOs‘ legal representatives – finished their arguments in the matter that ran throughout the day.

    It is now the turn of the other respondents – the Union of India through I&B ministry and the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) to present their arguments against the writ petition tomorrow.

    The IBF has impleaded itself as a party in both Gujarat and Karnataka, primarily to argue that there should be no delay in implementation of DAS.

    In its petition, the Cable Operators Association of Gujarat has said that there is shortage of set top boxes and no clarity on acquisition of these boxes.

    The Government has already switched off the analogue television signals in Phase II from the midnight of 31 March.
    Pandya said over phone from Ahmedabad that STBs ordered from China had failed to arrive because of internal problems in that country and therefore the local cable operators could not be penalized for this.

    As reported earlier, KSCOA filed a writ petition against the implementation of the second phase of the Digital Addressable System (DAS) that was to be implemented on 1 April onwards in Bengaluru. Other petitions filed against DAS in Mysore and some other LCOs were clubbed together.

    Meanwhile, digitisation has also been stayed in Hyderabad and Vishakhapatnam and the case is coming up for hearing before the Andhra Pradesh High Court next week.

  • Stay continues in Bengaluru and Mysore as HC pushes hearing to 8 April

    Stay continues in Bengaluru and Mysore as HC pushes hearing to 8 April

    NEW DELHI/BENGALURU: Status quo remains in Bengaluru and Mysore as the hearing on extension of government mandated Digital Addressable System (DAS) has been pushed to 8 April by the Karnataka High Court.

    The HC was expected to hear petitions filed by Karnataka Cable TV Operators Association (KCTVOA) and Mysore Cable TV Operators Association (MCTVOA) seeking extension of digitisation in Bengaluru and Mysore respectively.

    However, the HC could not take up the case for hearing as an election related petition came up for hearing.
     
    KCTVOA counsel S Subramanya confirmed that both the cases will come up for hearing on 8 April.

    Both KCTVOA and MCTVOA had filed a petition in the HC for extending digitisation due to non-availibility of set-top boxes (STBs). One newly licensed MSO had stated in the last hearing on 1 April that he did not have enough time to acquire STBs and install them in subscriber homes.

    However, the MSOs who have been made party to the case are opposed to any extension of deadline. The MSOs comprising Hathway Cable & Datacom, InCable, Den Networks, Siti Cable and Atria Convergence Technologies will request the HC to dismiss the writ petition filed by KCTVOA when the case comes up for hearing.

    The sunset date for phase II of digitisation covering 38 cities including Bengaluru and Mysore was 31 March however the Information & Broadcasting ministry on 2 April allowed a 15 day grace period to the industry to allow smooth transition from analogue to digital cable.

  • Stage set for a court battle on DAS in Bengaluru

    Stage set for a court battle on DAS in Bengaluru

    MUMBAI: A battle royale is set to take place in the Karnataka High Court tomorrow. On the one hand are national and Karnataka‘s multi system operators (MSOs). And on the other side is the Karnataka Cable TV Operators Association (KCTVOA). The former are are all set to challenge the petition filed by the latter seeking extension of DAS (digital addressable system) in Bengaluru.

    Putting up a united front, the MSOs led by Hathway Cable & Datacom, InCable, Den Networks, Siti Cable and Atria Convergence Technologies will request the High Court to dismiss the writ petition filed by the KCTVOA.

    The MSOs have been made respondents to the petition filed by KCTVOA president V S Patrick Raju. The MSOs are expected to file their responses when the case comes up for hearing before the court tomorrow.

    Hathway Cable & Datacom MD and CEO Jagdish Kumar asserted that the MSOs will request the HC to strike down the KCTVOA‘s writ petition seeking extension of digitisation deadline.

    Kumar feels that there is no need for a stay on DAS in Bangalore as almost 75 per cent of the television households have already been seeded with STBs. The MSOs, he said, are equipped to seed STBs in the remaining 25 per cent homes.

    The Karnataka HC had had on 31 March extended DAS in Bengaluru till 5 April on a petition filed by Raju. The KCTVOA had requested the HC to postpone digitisation in Karnataka‘s capital city as there was no clarity on the set top boxes (STBs).

    Raju says that he had filed a RTI request with the nodal officer in Bengaluru 10 days ago, seeking information on the extent of set top box seeding in the city, but he had not got a response as yet. He says that the entire digitisation process will result in cable TV operators becoming a bill collector and the revenue share of 65:35 in favour of the MSO is not acceptable at all. “We have invested so much in our cable TV networks and by collecting Rs 1,400 for a set top box, the MSO will get our subscriber who is asking us for bills for the set top box, for warranty for mobility to other areas of the city,” he says. “Also the MSOs have not given us a rate card for the channels that they want us to carry.”

    The sunset date for phase II of digitisation covering 38 cities was 31 March however the Information & Broadcasting ministry on 2 April allowed a 15 day grace period to the industry to allow smooth transition from analogue to digital cable.

    The HC is also expected to hear tomorrow a petition filed by Mysore Cable TV Operators Association seeking extension in Mysore due to shortage of STBs.

  • DTH Assn’s Harit Nagpal: “We can plug the shortfall in STBs in Phase II”

    DTH Assn’s Harit Nagpal: “We can plug the shortfall in STBs in Phase II”

    MUMBAI: They are being pretty direct. DTH TV operators have categorically stated that they can definitely fill the gap should there be any shortage of set top boxes in any city under phase II of the government mandated digitsation of cable TV.

    “Digitisation does not need to be postponed,” says DTH Association of India president Harit Nagpal emphatically “ We have been digitizing the TV industry for the past seven years. We have national contracts with the broadcasters, which we keep working on with them. We have adequate stocks of STBs and trained manpower to meet any demand which crops up in any city should cable TV operators not be in a position to deliver the set top boxes to their customers.”

    He is pretty confident that this can be done overnight. “At Tata Sky we have about 1.5 million set top boxes in stock,” he reveals. “I am speaking for all DTH operators: If there is a colony or a ward or a pincode which is feeling the shortage, we can rush boxes there overnight to plug the shortage.”

    Nagpal believes that media reports claiming that 50 per cent of homes in some cities are facing a TV blackout could be attributable to independent cable TV operators in these cities not clearly reporting the number of STBs they have installed. “I think it is a reporting problem,” he says. “The number of TV homes not receiving signals is much lower. Some anomalies like this are bound to occur on an exercise of this scale.”

    DTH today accounts for about 27-28 per cent of the entire pay TV base in this country with about 40 million active subscribers according to the DTH association.

    Also, according to MIB reports almost 40 per cent of the digitization that has been achieved in the 38 cities has been done by DTH players, among which figure Tata Sky, Airtel, Videocon d2H, DishTV, Sun, DDDirect, Big TV.