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Calcutta is staring at a potential television blackout in 30 lakh homes ahead of the Olympics unless analogue-to-digital conversion happens at an Usain Bolt speed of 16 subscribers every 9.4 seconds over the next 20 days.
After dragging its feet on the June 30 digitisation deadline, the city’s task looks as technically implausible as Jamaican Bolt’s 100 metres goal for London 2012 appears possible.
From Monday till June 30, 1.5 lakh cable homes would need to switch to set-top boxes every day to be able to enjoy the Euro Cup final, Wimbledon, the Olympics and any number of soaps and reality shows without worrying about a signal cut.
That works out to a target of 1.7 homes every second, or approximately 16 in the world-record time Bolt might run 100 metres on August 5!
Even Mamata Banerjee is worried. “She fears there will be a law and order problem if one home gets to watch satellite television and another doesn’t. This is a sports-crazy city and so many big events are lined up, so the prospect of a blackout couldn’t have come at a worse time,” said a source close to the chief minister.
If it’s any consolation, the other three metros aren’t any closer to meeting the conversion target, though Mumbai has done slightly better than Calcutta, Chennai and Delhi. As on June 1, the conversion rates in Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai were 19.94, 12.5 and 38.4 per cent to Calcutta’s 20.67 per cent.
The metropolitan area has 40 lakh cable homes, of which 32 lakh hadn’t switched to to either set-top boxes from multi-system operators or direct-to-home platforms like Tata Sky, Airtel TV, Dish TV or Videocon D2H till June 1.
“So even if two lakh more subscribers have made the jump since, 30 lakh still remain in the analogue list. Television screens in these homes will go blank in 20 days if the government doesn’t extend the deadline,” a representative of a satellite service provider said.
Broadcasters and DTH players have stepped up pressure on Delhi to stick to the deadline, according to the CEO of a multi-system operator. “Everyone with a stake in this stands to gain from the switch. They want the government to stick to June 30 (as the deadline), irrespective of how the consumer is affected,” he said over phone from Delhi,
A source confirmed a meeting of representatives of the cable industry in the capital on Friday. “A presentation on behalf of the information and broadcasting ministry stated the conversion figures, which are poor. Bengal has been saying more time is required and government officials acknowledged at the meeting that a similar request had come from Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra,” he said.
Urban development minister Firhad Hakim had said in Delhi during a visit in mid-April that digitisation of satellite TV in Bengal would not be possible by June 30, only to be told that the Centre would not budge from its deadline.
Time, or the lack of it, isn’t the only problem. Set-top boxes are in short supply and there is no nodal officer of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India in Calcutta yet to oversee the transition. Prices of set-top boxes have shot up in the city, going from Rs 500 a couple of months ago to a range of Rs 800-1,200. Boxes might become even costlier closer to the deadline.
Broadcasters and multi-system operators were on Friday given status forms to fill and submit by Monday, based on which the Centre will take a decision on whether or not to stick to the deadline.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120611/jsp/calcutta/story_15593723.jsp#.T9WbQbAthQm
After dragging its feet on the June 30 digitisation deadline, the city’s task looks as technically implausible as Jamaican Bolt’s 100 metres goal for London 2012 appears possible.
From Monday till June 30, 1.5 lakh cable homes would need to switch to set-top boxes every day to be able to enjoy the Euro Cup final, Wimbledon, the Olympics and any number of soaps and reality shows without worrying about a signal cut.
That works out to a target of 1.7 homes every second, or approximately 16 in the world-record time Bolt might run 100 metres on August 5!
Even Mamata Banerjee is worried. “She fears there will be a law and order problem if one home gets to watch satellite television and another doesn’t. This is a sports-crazy city and so many big events are lined up, so the prospect of a blackout couldn’t have come at a worse time,” said a source close to the chief minister.
If it’s any consolation, the other three metros aren’t any closer to meeting the conversion target, though Mumbai has done slightly better than Calcutta, Chennai and Delhi. As on June 1, the conversion rates in Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai were 19.94, 12.5 and 38.4 per cent to Calcutta’s 20.67 per cent.
The metropolitan area has 40 lakh cable homes, of which 32 lakh hadn’t switched to to either set-top boxes from multi-system operators or direct-to-home platforms like Tata Sky, Airtel TV, Dish TV or Videocon D2H till June 1.
“So even if two lakh more subscribers have made the jump since, 30 lakh still remain in the analogue list. Television screens in these homes will go blank in 20 days if the government doesn’t extend the deadline,” a representative of a satellite service provider said.
Broadcasters and DTH players have stepped up pressure on Delhi to stick to the deadline, according to the CEO of a multi-system operator. “Everyone with a stake in this stands to gain from the switch. They want the government to stick to June 30 (as the deadline), irrespective of how the consumer is affected,” he said over phone from Delhi,
A source confirmed a meeting of representatives of the cable industry in the capital on Friday. “A presentation on behalf of the information and broadcasting ministry stated the conversion figures, which are poor. Bengal has been saying more time is required and government officials acknowledged at the meeting that a similar request had come from Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra,” he said.
Urban development minister Firhad Hakim had said in Delhi during a visit in mid-April that digitisation of satellite TV in Bengal would not be possible by June 30, only to be told that the Centre would not budge from its deadline.
Time, or the lack of it, isn’t the only problem. Set-top boxes are in short supply and there is no nodal officer of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India in Calcutta yet to oversee the transition. Prices of set-top boxes have shot up in the city, going from Rs 500 a couple of months ago to a range of Rs 800-1,200. Boxes might become even costlier closer to the deadline.
Broadcasters and multi-system operators were on Friday given status forms to fill and submit by Monday, based on which the Centre will take a decision on whether or not to stick to the deadline.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120611/jsp/calcutta/story_15593723.jsp#.T9WbQbAthQm
