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Five days ahead of the cable television digitisation deadline on October 31, confusion prevails over the number of households that have adhered to the mandatory digitisation norms. Mandatory digitisation norms include installation of a set-top box.
The Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s estimates announced last week state that nearly 78 per cent digitisation in the cable TV category (81 per cent including DTH subscribers) have been completed in the city. City-based multi-system operators have, however, claimed that not more than 40 per cent households have adhered to the digitisation norms.
According to Swapan Chowdhury, convenor of Kolkata-based Cable Operators’ Digitisation Committee, hardly 35 to 40 per cent of the estimated 35 lakh households in Kolkata have opted for digitisation.
“A mere 35 per cent of the cable households have installed set top boxes in Kolkata so far. The local cable operators have not been contacted before calculating the numbers,” Chowdhury told Business Line .
Conditions not met
Many conditions for digitisation of cable TV have yet to be met by the MSOs, broadcasters and the local cable operators.
“Surprisingly, agreements between broadcasters and MSOs have yet to be inked. This was one of the pre-conditions,” Chowdhury pointed out. The agreement makes clear the channels that will be aired by the MSO and the payments to be made to the broadcasters.
Siti Cable, one of the four major MSOs that covers Kolkata and Bengal, has claimed that 70 per cent of its users have completed digitisation. Suresh Sethia, director of Siti Cable said, “Nearly 70 per cent of our 9.5 lakh users have already installed set top boxes.”
According to him, of the total cable TV users in the city, about 15 lakh households are reported to have installed set top boxes so far. Experts feel about 10 to 15 per cent users will opt for digitisation only after the blackout. Meanwhile, the West Bengal Government recently appealed to the Centre for extension of deadline, anticipating law and order problems following a sudden blackout.
> ayan.pramanik@thehindu.co.in
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