(18 September 2012 10:18 pm) 

MUMBAI: The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has revealed that 68 per cent of Cable TV Digitisation has already been achieved in the four metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. Only six weeks are now left for the complete switch over from analogue to digital delivery of television channels in the four metros for the first phase of digitisation.

City wise data shows that Mumbai leads the progress in digitisation with 95 per cent homes digitised followed by Kolkata with 67 per cent. In Delhi, 53 per cent of the cable homes have switched to digital and in Chennai, 49 per cent.

Taking into consideration that the TV penetration is about 80 per cent on an average in four metro cities, and there are 2.55 million DTH subscribers and 4.67 million Set Top Boxes have already been installed, the percentage of digitization in four metros is 68 per cent. This includes 20 per cent provision for multiple TVs in homes and TVs in offices, the MIB said in a statement.

The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Amendment Act 2011 has made it mandatory for switch over of the existing Analogue Cable Television Network to Digital Addressable System (DAS) by December 2014 in the entire country in four phases. In the first phase, four metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai have to switch to digital cable by 31 October.

MIB said it has been constantly reviewing the preparedness of the industry for the Digital switch over. Installation of Set Top Boxes in Cable TV Homes is one of the most crucial pre-conditions for the Digital Switch over.