Cable TV Digitization Drive Delays In Vizag

The deadline for cable TV digitization in 38 cities, including Visakhapatnam, ended on March 31st, 2013 but the cable operators in Vizag have expressed their inability to transition to the digital TV mode as they are yet to receive the set-top boxes to distribute to their customers.

According to the guidelines set by the Union government in its notification, the cable operators are supposed to shift the digitized set-top boxes from April 1. Any cable TV service provider who does not switch to digital TV can be penalised and the equipment could be confiscated.

Some cable operators said that the digitization would be possible by the first week of June, but officials, including the joint collector and the nodal officer of the programme for Vizag city, Pravin Kumar said, ‘the digitization would be complete in seven days. Cable operators are not able to shift to a digital addressable cable TV system because of some problems, including short supply of set-top boxes and digitization would hopefully be done in a week.”

According to a proprietor of a cable service, "At present, only 1 lakh set-top boxes have arrived here from China and another 4 lakh boxes are required to meet the demand of the customers. It would take another two months to digitize the cable services.”

Chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy also wrote to the Centre seeking an extension of another month. In a letter to minister of information and broadcasting Manish Tewari, the CM asked him to ensure that the existing analog transmission in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam, where some 50 lakh people were yet to buy set top boxes, resumes.

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/digitization-news/item/2006-cable-tv-digitization-drive-delays-in-vizag.htmlSource: http://cablequest.org/news/digitization-news/item/2006-cable-tv-digitization-drive-delays-in-vizag.html

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