Protests, dead TV screens as India’s digital deadline ends

The government's much-extended deadline for the digitisation of cable TV signals in 38 cities across 14 Indian states expired today; but many of the areas that were supposed to go digital have failed to gear up.

As a result, viewers in large parts of the country were reduced to Doordarshan's anaemic offerings, as local operators had no choice but to shut down cable services.

These 38 cities are part of the second phase of the government's digitisation programme – many metropolitan areas in state capitals have already gone digital in the first phase.

But protests continue, as it is obvious that a great many households in India simply cannot afford a set-top box. This is apart from the poor availability of digital TV boxes.

Vizagapatam, one of the most important cities of Kerala, has already registered an official protest against the digitalisation move, saying the availability of set-top boxes is far from enough to meet the demand.

"At present, only 1 lakh set-top boxes have arrived here from China. Another 4 lakh boxes are required to meet customer demand. It would take another two months to digitise the cable services," a proprietor of a cable service told a newspaper.

The Uttar Pradesh government also on Saturday wrote to the ministry of information and broadcasting seeking an extension of digitisation deadline.

The I&B ministry said digitisation would be implemented in the 38 cities apart from Bangalore and four towns in Gujarat, where the deadline was being extended following court orders.

According to recent ministry data, Hyderabad, Amritsar, Chandigarh and Allahabad have achieved nearly 100-per cent digitisation; while over 75 per cent digitisation had been achieved in Jodhpur, Thane, Aurangabad, Jaipur, Pune,Faridabad, Nashik, and Ghaziabad.

But Andhra Pradesh chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy wrote to the union ministry on Sunday seeking an extension of another month for implementing digitisation.

In a letter to minister of information and broadcasting Manish Tewari, Reddy asked him to ensure that the existing analog transmission in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam, resumes, as some 50 lakh people are yet to buy set-top boxes.

In the Uttar Pradesh capital of Lucknow, many viewers faced a cable blackout from midnight. The analog switch-off came despite the cable operators approaching district magistrate Anurag Yadav on Sunday with a plea that transmission of signals be continued for those who couldn't immediately buy boxes.

''We urged him that for the sake of lakhs of subscribers, the administration should at least ensure that viewers are able to watch TV,'' said Anil Upadhyay, president, UP Cable Operators' Welfare Association.

On Saturday, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav had written to Union I&B minister Manish Tiwari requesting a six-month extension to the deadline for seven cities, including Lucknow.

Yadav also urged Tiwari to ensure that cable TV subscribers, who were yet to install the devices, are not barred from receiving signals.