Are you still watching TV over an analogue connection? Blame your cable operator, who — either on his own or through his association — has filed a case against the cable digitisation move that is still pending with the Delhi High court. And this pendency has now led the Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry to postpone the deadline for Phase IV of cable TV digitisation to March 31, 2017.
According to a statement released from the I&B Ministry, the delay is due to "uncertainty in the market due to pending court cases and unsatisfactory progress of installation of Set Top Boxes (STBs) in Phase IV areas." The process — including in rural areas — was to have been finished by December 31, 2016.
It seems even Phase III of the digitisation process has not been completed yet. The ministry said in the statement that it "is also providing additional time for the remaining subscribers in Phase III areas to switch over to digital mode of transmission by January 31, 2017, on account of ongoing court proceedings." This phase was to have been completed by the end of 2015!
Pendency of cases
According to the I&B Ministry: "...Some MSO [Multi System Operator] Associations and individuals had moved various high courts and obtained either extension of cut-off date or stay on the operationalisation of the notifications of the Ministry dated November 11, 2011 and September 11, 2014." These extensions and cut-offs were for Phase III of the process.
When the ministry raised the matter before the Supreme Court, the apex court in a ruling on April 4 this year passed all the cases to the Delhi High Court. The ministry said in its statement that the Delhi HC has "disposed off most of the cases and it is very likely that the remaining cases would also be finally disposed off in the very near future."
Once that is done, all these areas will have a limited time to digitise their TV signals, with the ministry saying that no further extension of the Phase III deadline of January 31, 2017, will take place.
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