Karnataka HC Extends Interim Order To Continue Analog Signals Till April 10

The Karnataka High Court on 9 April the figures provided by the cable television operators had grossly underreported the number of cable TV connections in the city.

While they had declared only 15 lakh connections, they had provided almost twice that without declaring them to the multi-system operators (MSOs).

This aspect has come to light as the cable operators now claim that there are 26 lakh cable TV connections in the city and are seeking extension of deadline to supply set top boxes (STBs) to switch over to the digital signal from the present analog.

These submissions were made by senior counsel K.G. Raghavan, who represented MSOs such as Hathway and others, during the hearing on the petitions filed by cable operators challenging the March 31 deadline.

Pointing out that such underreporting of connections led to loss of revenue to the MSOs and the exchequer of the State and Union governments, Mr. Raghavan submitted that “the game plan of cable operators will end with digitisation…”

As per the data of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, 68 per cent of the households having cable TV connections were digitised as on March 29, 2013 and the extension of the deadline by the High Court’s interim order has reduced the pace of digitisation. He clarified that the MSOs have enough number of STBs.

Pointing out that certain targets cannot be achieved without deadlines, he contended that there is no reason for an extension as it was well planned involving all stakeholders by the Union government.

Justice S. Abdul Nazeer riposted: “You give the STB remote to any 10-year-old boy, he will set it right it within seconds. If there are no children in a house, you can call the neighbour’s child.” 0As the arguments remained inconclusive, Justice Nazeer extended the interim order to continue analog signals by one more day till April 10.

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/digitization-news/item/2108-karnataka-hc-extends-interim-order-to-continue-analog-signals-till-april-10.htmlSource: http://cablequest.org/news/digitization-news/item/2108-karnataka-hc-extends-interim-order-to-continue-analog-signals-till-april-10.html