New Delhi: President Prathibha Patil has given her nod to an ordinance, which would make digitisation of cable services mandatory by 2014. The presidential assent marks the coming in to force of the government ordinance, which is set to bring the analog era in the Indian television to an end, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting officials said.
The shift would mean all customers must have a set top box whether they want to receive free-to-air or pay channels. They will be able to watch high quality channels of their choice on an a la carte basis and are likely to have access to Internet and telephone through the same digital cable.
Broadcasters may be able to generate more revenue directly from subscribers, and thus reduce their dependence on TRPs and advertisers, officials said. The ordinance aims at complete digitalisation of cable television in the four metros by March 31, 2012. The target date for completely digitising cable sector in cities with population of more than 10 lakh is September 2014, while nation wide digitisation is expected to be achieved by December 2014. Sources said there might be a change in the target dates for implementation of digitisation.
While the US had acquired complete digitisation of its cable sector in 2009, other countries like China are also following suit.
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