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Pay channels in Kolkata has already gone off air , in houses that have not gone digital yet , much before the deadline of 27th December issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Analog transmission of sports channels went off a couple of weeks ago and on Monday, kids and English news channels followed suit in tune with the information and broadcasting ministry's schedule.
While the state government has been urging MSOs to continue seeding set-top boxes at home and target a year-end deadline to complete digitization. The Centre is already targeting the state for refusing to act against chit funds. In response the state hit back on Monday as minister Firhad Hakim warned MSOs against the switch-off.
The MSO’s seems to be the one crushed in between the Centre directives and the state rules. On the one hand, they have been facing the threat of losing our license from the I&B ministry if they do not stick to the switchover deadline. On the other hand, disregarding the wishes of the state government would definitely not be an option as it will become difficult to conduct business.
The two MSOs as well as DEN have also not been transmitting English channels - news, movies and entertainment - to homes that do not have set-top boxes. Sony, which has popular entertainment channels in Hindi as well, has also been missing from homes with analog feed for a while now.
With the state only announcing its opposition to immediate digitization switch, the momentum in seeding of set-top boxes has also been lost .However the I&B Ministry has already ruled out that city-based cable operators or multi system operators (MSO) are supposed to switch off all analogue signals by December 27.
Pay Channels goes off air in Kolkata before the deadline
Analog transmission of sports channels went off a couple of weeks ago and on Monday, kids and English news channels followed suit in tune with the information and broadcasting ministry's schedule.
While the state government has been urging MSOs to continue seeding set-top boxes at home and target a year-end deadline to complete digitization. The Centre is already targeting the state for refusing to act against chit funds. In response the state hit back on Monday as minister Firhad Hakim warned MSOs against the switch-off.
The MSO’s seems to be the one crushed in between the Centre directives and the state rules. On the one hand, they have been facing the threat of losing our license from the I&B ministry if they do not stick to the switchover deadline. On the other hand, disregarding the wishes of the state government would definitely not be an option as it will become difficult to conduct business.
The two MSOs as well as DEN have also not been transmitting English channels - news, movies and entertainment - to homes that do not have set-top boxes. Sony, which has popular entertainment channels in Hindi as well, has also been missing from homes with analog feed for a while now.
With the state only announcing its opposition to immediate digitization switch, the momentum in seeding of set-top boxes has also been lost .However the I&B Ministry has already ruled out that city-based cable operators or multi system operators (MSO) are supposed to switch off all analogue signals by December 27.
Pay Channels goes off air in Kolkata before the deadline
