Deadline over, but analogue cable signal still available in Kolkata

[tech_genie]

At the stroke of midnight on Wednesday, several households in the city, which are yet to install set top boxes, nervously turned on their television sets fearing that the threat of the cable blackout announced by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had been implemented. There was relief all around when they realised that most of their channels were still available on Thursday.

Following West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s remarks on Tuesday — she had warned of yet another confrontation with the Centre on the issue of compulsory digitisation if the option of a simultaneous analogue signal was not kept open — most broadcasters continued transmitting both digital and analogue signals. There were some channels that went off the air, but by midday all had been restored, Suresh Sethia, director of Siti cable told The Hindu.However, how long the analogue option will be available is not clear. Reports of an extension of two weeks to a month are doing the rounds, but no one is exactly sure how long the respite will continue.

“We know that we will be able to provide set top boxes to all customers served by us in three weeks. However, there are other multi-sector operators (MSOs) in the city and it is not known how long they will take,” Mr. Sethia pointed out.

According to sources, Ms. Banerjee has asked broadcasters to continue proving the option of analogue signals till set top boxes are set up in every household. According to estimates, there are about 40 lakh homes yet to make the switch to the digital connection. While the figures released by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting suggest that 80 per cent of these homes have been covered, the State government estimates that only about 50 per cent have been covered.

Given the instructions from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, households which had not made the switch faced the likelihood of a cable blackout, but for the last minute intervention by Ms. Banerjee.

Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, she said: “Ensuring digitisation can certainly be done, but it cannot be done overnight,” and added: “We will not allow it.”

Source: The Hindu : States / Other States : Deadline over, but analogue cable signal still available in Kolkata

 

[tech_genie]

MUMBAI: Kolkata remained largely unaffected by the digitisation deadline thanks to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Bannerjee's diktat to cable operators not to swtich off signals to analogue homes.

Siti Cable Kolkata Director Suresh Sethia said that the West Bengal government had told the operators against discontinuing signals to analogue homes as it feared that there would be chaos in the city a large number of homes which are yet to be digitised.

"All the channels are available to analogue subscribers," he claimed. "The Chief Minister (Mamata Bannerjee) had clearly told that the signals should not be switched off, otherwise there would be law and order situation."

As per the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Amendment Bill 2011, it is illegal to transmit TV signals to analogue homes after the sunset date. As per the law passed by the parliament, the country will switch to digital cable in phased manner by 31 December 2014. The deadline for first phase of digitisation in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata ended on 31 October.
The Madras High Court had on Wednesday pushed the deadline till 5 November for Chennai.

Sethia's claim was supported by the head of a rival MSO who did not wished to be identified, "Let's be practical, we are doing business in Kolkata and we can't go against state government's diktat. The state government is obviously concerned about the law and order situation if analogue homes go blank," he said.

He claimed that only 50 per cent homes have been seeded with STBs in contrast to I&B ministry's latest figure of 85 per cent.

Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) which had earlier asserted that it will switch off signals to analogue homes was caught off-guard. Talking to Indiantelevision.com, IBF president Man Jit Singh had stated that it had set up teams to conduct raids with police in case there is a case of piracy.

"We have switched off signals to analogue cable. We are following the law of the land. I can't say more than that," Singh said when asked to clarify on the Kolkata situation.

Singh also said that IBF was studying the ground situation as it is just the first day after the deadline.

The senior MSO quoted above executive asserted that none of the cable operators have gone against the state government's direction and analogue customers continued to receive all the channels.

"The analogue and digital homes are existing together for the time being," the executive added. He remained non-commital when asked how long this arrangement would continue.

Sethia, however, asserted that the MSOs and LCOs are committed to digitisation. Their only demand was extension of digitisation which the Union government rejected.

"There is robust demand for STBs," he asserted adding that the cable operators would continue to seed boxes.

What incentive will analogue customers have to install a STB if they are getting all the channels? "They know that this arrangement is only for the time being and eventually they have to switch to digital cable," said Sethia.

Source: Indiantelevision.com's > Digital Edge> Digitisation: Analogue cable homes in Kolkata continue to receive signals