Mumbai/New Delhi, Aug 3 (IBNS) Mumbai has completed 50% of the digitization target, said the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting on Friday.
The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Amendment Act, 2011 has made it mandatory for switchover of the existing analogue Cable TV networks 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 are to be covered by 31st Oct.
The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has been constantly coordinating with the stakeholders of the cable television industry, namely, broadcasters, Multi-System Operators (MSOs) and Local Cable Operators in its endeavour to ensure that the deadline of 31st October 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 Ministry has been constantly reviewing 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 lakh STBs and so far 17.07 lakh STBs have been installed.
