Chennai Cable Digitization: Will it ever happen? HC Postpones hearing

[tech_genie]

Chennai Cable Digitization: Will it ever happen?


:new Update: HC Pospones hearing :new

Chennai, Nov 22 (TruthDive): Cable digitization in Chennai appears to come to no fruitful end. Challenging the notification of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I& B), to put in place Digital Addressable System (DAS), the Local Cable Operators (LCO) of Chennai will file a fresh petition in the Madras High Court, making it the first petition from Chennai to challenge I&B’s order.

Justice PPS Janarthanaraja and Justice N Paul Vasantha Kumar were scheduled to hear the petition on November 19. Justice P.P.S. Janarthanaraja’s son works for Sun TV; so, the judge had excused himself from the case citing possible partiality and also because Sun TV’s lawyer is appearing for one of the respondents in the case.

And, internal shuffles of judges has postponed the hearing furthermore with the cable operators requested to file a fresh petition by the new 2-member bench consisting of Justice Elipe Dharma Rao and Justice Aruna Jagadeesan who will now hear the petition.

The original deadline for digitization in all the four metros has been fixed as October 31 by the Union government, which was extended to Nov 5. As the Set Top Boxes (STB) were in short supply, counsel representing Arasu Cable had asked for an extension of another 18 weeks of time for delivery of equipment by vendors. The deadline was further pushed to November 19 in the third hearing.

The Counsel representing the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said that the government can extend the deadline up to December 2012 if the State government can commit to finish the digitization process by then in the city.

About 61 per cent of digitization is completed in Chennai, according to a report by I&B ministry which is however disputed by local cable operators who claim that the authentic number is much lesser. They say that the I&B’s data is very old which has not taken into account the free television sets distributed during the DMK regime between 2006-’11.

Tags: Cable digitization, Chennai

Source: Chennai Cable Digitization: Will it ever happen? | TruthDiveTruthDive

 

[AsitPaul]

RE: Chennai Cable Digitization: Will it ever happen?

Even we dont know when kolkata digitisation will be completed. Minister told that, until there will be a single analogue home, the analogue signal will be live! What an irresponsible comment from a Minister.

 

[HOUSE-MD]

RE: Chennai Cable Digitization: Will it ever happen?

Even we dont know when kolkata digitisation will be completed. Minister told that, until there will be a single analogue home, the analogue signal will be live! What an irresponsible comment from a Minister.

Huh, this is as pity as Chennai. Looks like even after the tier 2 cities are completed both kolkata and Chennai (Most of TN) alone will continue to have the age old technology.

kolkata atleast seems to have such a minister to speak to the people, here in Chennai no minister, no govt and noone has ever spoken, the ad's by TRAI were only in Hindi so 99% of people didnt understand what is digitalization (my friends in IT who r with good education said the TRAI's hindi ad's means a compulsion switch over from cable to DTH and most of them took Tata Sky/ Airtel/Dish, all cause of ignorance and no regional or English ad's) :wall :wall and my cable guy said that he has no idea what the govt has in mind and guaranteed cable service as it is the one that gives him his bread.

Plz see this site for Arasu cable, it still says October news everywhere (Arasu Cable! and this notice (Arasu Cable TV still no update. This is how we people are living.

All we have is people who call themselves leaders simply dont understand where the nation is leading and want to keep the people who voted for them in ignorance.

Analogue : No STB necessary.

Max of 60 - 70 channels in ok quality so both the MSO & Govt can decide which channel the people may see, if a few channels put real news but not liked by ruling people then they can easily make the channel disappear and hide it from the people, as puthiya thalaimurai which was crowned as Chennais (TN's too) # 1 news channel removed by SUN group and not available in chennai.

Digital: Need to spend for STB.

Any # of channels, once certified by TRAI the MSO & State govt cant stop the free channels or deny the pay channels or dim their quality or limit the channels (All four metro's soon need to increase the channel counts even under free count minimum 100 TRAI

SO people will have access to all channels and choose any as he wishes and all control with people and not with MSO or Govt.

 

[thilalangadi]

RE: Chennai Cable Digitization: Will it ever happen?

Chennai is controlled by media baron Maran and co SUN (TV channels+MSO+SUNDTH).Whichever party is ruling state or center, they call shots in cable industry.

Irony is "Arasu Cable" is a crap Govt Co. Even God maynot know the reasons why it was formed twice in span of 5yrs with no purpose!

 

[HOUSE-MD]

RE: Chennai Cable Digitization: Will it ever happen?

Chennai is controlled by media baron Maran and co SUN (TV channels+MSO+SUNDTH).Whichever party is ruling state or center, they call shots in cable industry.

Irony is "Arasu Cable" is a crap Govt Co. Even God maynot know the reasons why it was formed twice in span of 5yrs with no purpose!

Yes, even if the TN govt successive in bringing Arasu in chennai sooner (which is highly unlikely), the next govt if it happens to be DMK then SCV will indirectly take control of the Arasu, and again Monopoly in one form or the other.

So better if TRAI brings in a healthy competition of multiple private MSO's and bans any politicians related (direct or indirect) MSO monopoly in future, this is not only for TN but for all the other cities.

 

[tech_genie]

RE: Chennai Cable Digitization: Will it ever happen?

It is a pity that in India every policy is guided by the political equations. Healthy competition will only benefit the customers but who cares!

I think we will see more challenges in days to come when digitization is implemented in smaller cities...more protests, more compromises, more court cases filed and more delays in implementation !

 

[tech_genie]

RE: Chennai Cable Digitization: Will it ever happen?

FINALLY SOME GOOD NEWS FOR CHENNAI: hya

Sterlite Tech bags Rs 200 cr order from Arasu for set-top boxes

Even as the Madras High Court is hearing the Cable TV digitisation case, it is learnt that state-run MSO Arasu Cable Corporation had placed orders for set top boxes. The Rs 200-crore order has been bagged by the Vedanta Group company Sterlite Technologies.

Arasu Cable Corporation is the only MSO, out of the seven, which has not got a licence yet for DAS (digital addressable system) from the I&B ministry.

Meanwhile, the digitisation programme in Chennai has been further delayed as the Madras High Court postponed the hearing to Tuesday.
On Thursday, a cross section of local cable operators (LCOs) here challenged the Centre’s notification to implement cable TV digitisation programme. This is the first petition to be challenged from Chennai. A similar petition was filed at Bombay High Court, but was rejected.

Earlier on Wednesday a counsel representing the LCOs argued that the problem to implement the programme was infrastructure (set-up boxes), which was not available in India.

The judge asked how did other metros implemented if enough boxes were not available in the country.

Another counsel representing MSOs said around two million boxes were imported and in the last year none of the LCOs had placed order.

After hearing the arguments, the court asked the LCOs why they did not challenge the digitisation programme? Following which the LCOs, numbering 738 of the total 1,100 in Chennai, on Thursday challenged the programme.

It may be noted the deadline for implementation of cable television digitisation programme in Chennai was extended for the third time on November 9 till Nov 19 as the matter was not heard by the court.

Source: Sterlite Tech bags Rs 200 cr order from Arasu for set-top boxes

 

[HOUSE-MD]

RE: Chennai Cable Digitization: Will it ever happen?

Good, but this is not the end. Arasu will have a lot of surprises, like not paying for the STB, then a long drag, then several such will follow and by then it will be atleast another year when they will actually complete the supply.

Only god has to help Chennai cable tv subscribers. I really feel like moving to a DTH, but still waiting for some positive improvements in this issue.

 

[tech_genie]

RE: Chennai Cable Digitization: Will it ever happen?

:newHC postpones digitisation hearing by 4 weeks :new

The Madras High Court on Thursday postponed hearing on a petition by Chennai Metro Cable Operators' Association (CMCOA) by another four weeks, keeping the cable TV industry guessing about the fate of government mandated digitisation process in Chennai.

CMCOA had last week filed a fresh petition challenging the government notification of Cable Television Networks Rules, 2012 that paved the way for digitisation of the cable TV services.

Earlier, the two-member bench of Justice Elipe Dharma Rao and Aruna Jagadeesan had adjourned the matter till Thursday following requests by petitioners as well respondents for more time.

Kerela Cable Operators Association General Secretary K Govindan tells Indiantelevision.com that Media Pro, the company that distributes Asianet channels, has decided to waive off Rs 40 million out of the total outstanding amount of Rs 120 million. This, however, could not be confirmed with Media Pro officials.
"We have to pay Rs 8 crore (Rs 80 million) to Asianet as a result of the waive off," Govindam added.

Although the two parties are yet to sign a new deal, Govindan asserted that the COA has reached an understanding with Media Pro under which the operators will pay Rs 5 million per month as subscription fee.

During mid-2012 too, cable operators under MCOA (Media and Cable Operators Association) in Kerala had contended that the Trai website showed Asianet Plus as a FTA channel and had not paid any subscription charges for over 18 months, Media Pro claimed at that time.

The current spat seems to be a spillover from the earlier issue, except that Media Pro now claims that a number of cable operators have not paid subscription dues for about 12 months.

Source: Indiantelevision.com's > Digital Edge> Kerala cable operators resume Asianet channels

 

[Pugazhbalaji]

Tamil nadu cm jayalalitha wrote to pm manmohan to give permission for digitalised arasu cable.