ITV

Tag: switched-off

  • DAS Phase II: Analogue signals switched-off in 5 states

    DAS Phase II: Analogue signals switched-off in 5 states

    NEW DELHI: Analogue signals have been completely switched-off in five states of Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh, according to information provided by nodal officers to the Information & Broadcasting (I&B) ministry.

    The ministry said it is in constant touch with the Nodal Officers and MSOs to ensure that the cities in remaining states also speed up the process of digitisation.

    However, analogue signal continues un-interrupted in the eight cities of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Gujarat that are covered under DAS Phase II as the respective High Courts have passed orders against switching off analogue signals.

    In addition, stay continues in Chennai which was part of the DAS Phase I covering four metros which also included Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata.

    Sharing the latest figures about DAS implementation in 38 cities covered under Phase II, the ministry claims that over 85 per cent digitisation have been achieved so far.

    Out of the 38 cities, fifteen cities have achieved nearly 100 per cent digitisation, 24 cities in all have achieved more than 75 per cent digitisation, and 34 cities have achieved more than 50 per cent digitisation.

    The review by I&B ministry also reveals that as against a target of 16 million STBs, 13.6 million have already been installed by the MSOs and DTH operators.

    Of these, the total number of installed Cable TV STBs is 9.15 million while DTH operators have installed a total of 4.45 million STBs. In the last one month alone about four million STBs have been installed in the Phase II cities.

    The I&B ministry has meanwhile cautioned multi-system operators (MSOs) to implement digitisation in a ‘sensitive manner‘ so as to avoid causing inconvenience to consumers.

    The ministry stated that the objective of the entire exercise is to implement the process in a seamless, sustained yet sensitive manner that causes least amount of disruption to the consumer.

    Wherever necessary the process has been implemented in a circumspect way so as to ensure that consumers can get access to STBs, I&B ministry said.

    Separately, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has also been convening the meeting of broadcasters, MSOs and cable operators to sort out issues pertaining to agreements and service conditions.

    The ministry said that digitisation would usher in a new era in broadcasting sector reforms by bringing more transparency in the subscriber base and would lead to several benefits for stakeholders including government.

    It would bring in enhanced revenue by way of improved tax recovery for government, enhanced TV viewing experience due to digital picture quality and multiple choices of channels to subscribers and improved subscription revenue for broadcasters and cable industry.

    The ministry has also assured cable operators that digital addressable system (DAS) will provide them an opportunity to provide competitive services to their subscribers and help them retain their business in the wake of competition from DTH and other platforms.

  • DAS Phase II commences as analogue TV switched off

    DAS Phase II commences as analogue TV switched off

    NEW DELHI: The second phase of Digital Addressable System (DAS) in India marched on even as the month of March 2013 came to and end as envisioned by the Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry. Analogue television signals in 36 cities all over India were clipped even as stay orders were imposed by high courts in Ahmedabad and Bengaluru.

    However, I&B Ministry sources told Indiantelevision.com that the level of digitisation achieved as on 30 March was 70 per cent in phase II towns, and admitted there was a likelihood of viewers facing blank TV screens in some places.

    The sources said that these problems primarily existed in Srinagar which has just 4,300 set top boxes (STBs) installed. The situation in Coimbatore and Vishakapatnam was more serious with almost zero STB deployment on 20 March.

    They also added that the estimates had been made based on information received from multi-system operators (MSOs) and making a provision of 20 per cent for multiple TVs in households and TVs in offices/showrooms.

    While the seeding of STBs and switch-off of analogue was being overseen by nodal officers in all the cities, the sources said teams would be dispatched to all these cities in the coming days to study the impact and ensure implementation. They insisted that there were ample digital STBs available.

    However, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in a letter to I&B Minister Manish Tewari over the weekend requested for an extension of six months in the seven cities in the state that were to switch over to digital addressable system from today: Agra, Allahabad, Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi.

    While the Gujarat High Court in Ahmedabad stayed the introduction of DAS till 9 April in Ahmedabad, the Karnataka High Court issued the stay till 1 April in Bengaluru. The Karnataka High Court will hear cases relating to both Bengaluru and Mysore on 1 April.

    Ministry sources confirmed that both High Courts had issued notices to the Union government and the I&B Ministry.

    In both case, the petitioners Cable Operators Association of Gujarat through its president Pramod Pandya andKarnataka Cable TV Operators Association president V S Patrick Raju, have said there is confusion about availability of STBs and MSOs are also helpless. Raju has also raised the issue of who owns the STB that is installed at the home of a subscriber – the customer or the LCO.

    For the second phase, the 38 specific cities and towns in fourteen states and one union territory which have been listed in the notification are – Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune, Surat, Kanpur, Jaipur, Lucknow, Nagpur, Patna, Indore, Bhopal, Thane, Ludhiana, Agra, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Nashik, Vadodara, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Rajkot, Meerut, Kalyan-Dombivali, Varanasi, Amritsar, Navi Mumbai, Aurangabad, Solapur, Allahabad, Jabalpur, Srinagar, Visakhapatnam, Ranchi, Howrah, Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Mysore and Jodhpur.

    A high-level Monitoring Committee has also been set up to oversee the digitisation process in the entire country, which is expected to be achieved by the end of next year.

    In order to facilitate digitization, the Ministry has already issued provisional registration to 30 Independent MSOs to operate in Phase II cities. This would enable these MSOs to operate in their respective cities to provide digital cable TV services.

    The Ministry has set up a Task Force exclusively for Phase II cities to oversee and monitor the digitization process. A public awareness Committee has also been constituted in the Ministry for spearheading awareness campaign and all TV channels ran a scroll informing consumers about the deadline for cable TV digitization, as well as an animated commercial.

    All India Radio has also started broadcasting radio jingles on its national and regional networks to get the DAS message across. Several other initiatives like an SMS campaign, video spots and prints are on the anvil. The state governments/UTs have already nominated nodal officers in 38 cities of Phase II. The Ministry had recently conducted a workshop for them.

    Workshops have been held at some places to take stock of preparedness in Phase II cities and sensitize local MSOs, cable operators and other stakeholders.

    The Ministry had set up a Control Room during Phase I, which has continued to function to address the queries of consumers, cable operators and others. The Control Room which also has a toll free number has been receiving a number of calls from consumers of Phase II cities.