NEW DELHI: The Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation, which had been granted a provisional licence with the condition to digitise completely within three months, has now got an additional months time following a request by the state government.

The original grant period was scheduled to expire on 17 July 2017, and it is understood that TACTV had already commenced work to acquire digital STBs. However, the principal secretary of the Tamil Nadu government had, in a letter dated 6 June 2017, sought three more months.

However, in a letter sent to TACTV dated 21 June, the ministry of information and broadcasting ministry has said that the request was considered but it was decided to grant only a month's extension.

Consequently, TACTV has been asked to complete the digitisation process by 17 August 2017 failing which the provisional the "registration may be suspended/revoked."

Copies of the letter have been sent to the principal secretary of the Tamil Nadu IT Department, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, and the Commissioner/Superintendent of Police in Chennai.

A TACTV official, who did not want to be named, told indiantelevision.com that Arasu had already put up most of the digital head-ends and would be ready to transmit signals by mid-August.

However, the official said that the real problem lay in the availability and seeding of seven million digital set top boxes, which may take some more time.