to ensure that the deadline of 31st October, 2012 is met and TV viewers in the 4 metro cities are in position to have the pleasure of experiencing digital broadcast without any interruption.
the preparedness of the industry for the digital switch-over. Installation of Set Top Boxes in cable TV homes is the most crucial precondition for digital switch over of cable television. Therefore, this has been under the prime focus of the Ministry. A review by the Ministry has revealed that in Mumbai city, 50% of cable TV homes have already been installed with STBs. In Mumbai, there is an estimated requirement of 34.85 STBs and so far 17.07 STBs have been installed. The MSO-wise installation of STBs in Mumbai is as under:
National level MSOs
- 6.16 , Den - 1.40 - 2.57
IMCL - 4.77 WWIL - 0.50
Independent MSOs-1.69
Task Force with all the stakeholders are being held to take constant stock of the progress and to chalk out the measures to address emerging concerns.So far 14 meetings have taken place.
Meetings are being held with National level and independent Multi-Systems Operators every 15 days to assess their preparedness in terms of head-end capacities to carry minimum 200 TV channels to be extended to 500 channels from 1st January, 2012 and the progress of installation of Set Top Boxes in cable TV homes. They have also been advised to prepare micro plan for completion of the requisite task within the deadline and complete all the infrastructural preparations within time.
In order to enable the MSOs to online up-load the data on the website of the Ministry, the Ministry has put in place a software and the website has been enabled for the purpose real time collection of data. The software will automatically generate analytical information based on the data uploaded, resulting in a clear view of the progress made. This will not only be useful for MSOs and other stakeholders but also for the Ministry, as it will infuse transparency in the systemand enable timely corrective action taken
The completion of negotiation and the signing of interconnection agreements between the channel aggregators/ broadcasters and MSOs is one of the pre-requisites for implementation of digital switch-over. In order to facilitate mutually acceptable and workable negotiations in a transparent manner between the channel aggregators/ broadcasters and MSOs, the Ministry had requested them to have recourse to an open house sessions from 9thto 20th July 2012, from 9.30 am to 5.30 pm, in all the four metro cities so that conclusive agreements could be worked out by them on time.
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CP