FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2012

Stakeholder view of one month of digitization

There is a good article on first full month on cable digitization by Ananya Saha in mxmindia regarding how the first full month of digitization has been in the 3 metros of Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai.

Source
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Madras HC postpones Digitization Hearing by 4 weeks

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Thursday postponed hearing on a petition by Chennai Metro Cable Operators' Association (CMCOA) by another four weeks, keeping the cable TV industry guessing about the fate of government mandated digitization process in Chennai.

CMCOA had last week filed a fresh petition challenging the government notification of Cable Television Networks Rules, 2012 that paved the way for digitization of the cable TV services. Earlier, the two-member bench of Justice Elipe Dharma Rao and Aruna Jagadeesan had adjourned the matter till Thursday following requests by petitioners as well respondents for more time. There are 18 respondents in the petition which include the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) and the Multi System Operators (MSOs) from Chennai. The CMCOA had earlier filed a petition seeking postponement of cable digitization in Chennai by at least three months following which the DAS implementation was stayed by the Court. The cable operators argue that if digitization is allowed to roll-out, it will create chaos since the MSOs don't have enough STBs. According to CMCOA, there are an estimated 4 million homes in Chennai metropolitan region. The deadline for the first phase of digitization in the four metro cities was 1 November. Digitization has taken effect in the other three metros of Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. The Madras High Court had on 31 October stayed the digitization in Chennai till 5 November. The Court again extended the deadline till 9 November following which it was put off till 19 November. According to the I&B Ministry, 63 per cent television households in Chennai have been digitized, a claim the local cable operators have disputed. Source
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Cable TV to be digitized in Chennai

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government and local cable television operators failed in their bid to get the deadline for digitization of TV signals extended for Chennai with the Madras high court refusing to give any further relief. The court had already extended the deadline till November 19 though the mandatory digitization regime was to come into force in the four metros - Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai - from October 31.

Based on a petition filed by cable TV operators, the court first extended the deadline to November 5. Since then it was periodically extended till November 19, when the single judge felt the matter should be treated as a PIL and heard by a division bench. On Thursday, a bench comprising Justice Elipe Dharma Rao and Justice S Rajeswaran said it would not extend the deadline further as the interim order had lapsed on November 19 itself.

Senior central government standing counsel Haja Mohideen Gisthi said now that the deadline has not been extended, the Centre would implement the digitization process in Chennai at the earliest. Earlier, the state-owned Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation Limited filed a counter-affidavit seeking extension of the deadline up to March 31, 2013. The corporation's general manager N Varadhan submitted that it was taking steps to digitize cable TV services in Chennai, and that it has already floated tenders for the purpose. Noting that the cable operators registered with the corporation have requested for about 9.4 lakh set-top boxes (STBs), he said the supplier has said they would require about 18 weeks to supply 10 lakh STBs. "It is necessary to extend the deadline for digitization in Chennai up to March 31, 2013, due to non-availability of STBs. Extension of time was required not only for the Arasu Corporation but also for all other multi-system operators." Assailing the Centre's assessment that 11.06 lakh homes in Chennai would require STBs, the corporation said the Chennai Metropolitan Area now comprised large chunks of residential colonies in Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts as well. The area has an estimated 22 lakh homes that should be covered by the digitization scheme, the court said. Meanwhile, the Chennai Cable Television Operators Association filed a petition amending its original prayer. Now it has questioned the validity of the central notifications dated November 11, 2011 and June 21, 2012 making digitization of cable TV services mandatory. Source
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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2012

Broadcasters to be biggest beneficieries of Digitization

The government's efforts to digitize cable television in India are paying off with Phase I having gone through satisfactorily. As per Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), Phase I has seen 100% digitization in Mumbai, 97% digitization in Delhi, 85% digitization in Kolkata and 86% digitization in Chennai as of Oct. 30, 2012. Digitization will lead to a change in prospects for the media industry. The current structure of the media industry, where majority of the revenues are taken away by the Local Cable Operators (LCO), has led to suppressed profitability levels for other players in the value chain. Under-reporting is to the tune of 80% to 85%, according to Edelweiss Securities. ''With the advent of digitization, under-reporting levels will decrease substantially and prospects will improve meaningfully for players in the value chain - broadcasters and multi-system operators (MSO) who will now get their full share of the revenue pie. This will lead to a quantum jump in the profitability of players, especially broadcasters,'' the stock broker opined. The biggest beneficiary of digitization will be broadcasters. On one end, their subscription revenues will increase and on the other hand carriage and placement charges will drop. Negligible capex will be involved in the process. On the contrary, MSOs and DTH operators will have to incur capex for financing set-top-boxes and putting up digital infrastructure, it said. "Content will be the key and it lies in the hands of the broadcasters. No matter what medium the consumer chooses to watch - DTH / Cable / Online / Mobile - what ultimately matters is the content," it concluded.

Phase II of DAS might turn out to be a bonanza for DTH:Dated:March 15th, 2013
A recent report released by government claims that nearly 60% seeding has already been achieved in the Phase II cities. The DTH penetration in these towns is estimated at 25% while Cable STBs is at approximately 33%. That means that there is nearly an equal split of DTH versus Cable STBs amongst the digitized universe in the Phase II towns. However, with the deadline of 31st March looming closer, and MSOs in many area s claiming to not have adequate STBs, the opportunity is ripe for the DTH players to sweep up a significant market share of the remaining analog homes in Phase II. Most DTH players do not have any shortage of boxes currently, and with the flexibility that they enjoy of being able to connect across localities, they would be eyeing this opportunity to significantly boost their subscriber numbers in the Phase II cities. If the deadline of 31st March is adhered to and blacking out of analog channels commences as planned, we might see the DTH operators swooping in and picking up significant market share from the MSOs that arent yet prepared to roll out their digital STBs.

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Phase II of DAS might turn out to be a bonanza for DTH: Dated:March 15th, 2013

A recent report released by government claims that nearly 60% seeding has already been achieved in the Phase II cities. The DTH penetration in these towns is estimated at 25% while Cable STBs is at approximately 33%. That means that there is nearly an equal split of DTH versus Cable STBs amongst the digitized universe in the Phase II towns.

However, with the deadline of 31st March looming closer, and MSOs in many areas claiming to not have adequate STBs, the opportunity is ripe for the DTH players to sweep up a significant market share of the remaining analog homes in Phase II.

Most DTH players do not have any shortage of boxes currently, and with the flexibility that they enjoy of being able to connect across localities, they would be eyeing this opportunity to significantly boost their subscriber numbers in the Phase II cities.

If the deadline of 31st March is adhered to and blacking out of analog channels commences as planned, we might see the DTH operators swooping in and picking up significant market share from the MSOs that arent yet prepared to roll out their digital STBs.

Whatever happens, the next few weeks promise to be interesting for both DTH and cable MSOs.

Please click on the link below to follow the official website of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for a detailed report.

Phase_II_Seeding_status_as_on_8th_March_2013.pdf

ARCHIVE NEWS

Digitization to Facilitate Transparency- Manish Tewari

Minister Confers Seema Nazareth Award for Excellence in Print Media Dated:March 14th, 2013

Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Shri Manish Tewari has said that the ongoing digitization process would help in building transparency in the system. As a mechanism it would also enable the growth of revenue models in the Broadcasting industry leading to the overall growth of the media and entertainment industry in the country. The process would also help broadcasters in identifying a balanced growth model through the increased share from the subscription revenues. The Minister stated this while delivering the key note address at the Seema Nazareth Award function for excellence in print media here today.

Elaborating further, the Minister said that there was an urgent need for key stakeholders within the media to introspect in view of the trends that had emerged as a result of corrosive discourse on one side and responsible discourse on the other. Referring to the challenges that had emerged due to the social media, the Minister said these tools had created an unprecedented potential to connect with target audience for the dissemination of news and information. The impact of this medium was so profound that it had also integrated with the print media in the dissemination mechanism. The changing paradigm in the media landscape had resulted in creating opportunities for the journalistic fraternity.

Referring to the Seema Nazareth Award, Shri Tewari said that the institution of the award had provided an ideal platform to encourage and inspire young journalists in the print media. The Minister conferred the Award to Ms.Sushmi Dey and also conferred two awards as a Special Mention to Ms.Shelly Walia and Ms.Debolina Sengupta. The Seema Nazareth Award has been instituted by Business Standard.

Digitization status at Karnataka Dated:March 4th, 2013

The March 31st deadline to Digitise the state is nearing. A quick look in to the present status in the state shows that customers are hesitant to make the switch due to initial cost of the STBs.

There are 2,30000 to 2,50000 households in the City that need to be seeded.

Taking advantage of the digitization drive are the Direct to Home service providers who are luring the customers with competitive offers.

DTH service providers in the City predicted an increase in sales of DTH devices, and services.

Cable operators are however unhappy about the regulations set by TRAI for the digitisation process. They allege that there arent enough arrangements to successfully digitise the televisions in the City. They also fear that they will lose buisness as there is no defined revenue model in placeto benefit LCOs.

Patrick Raju, President of Karnataka State Cable TVOperators Association said that the members of the association would petition the Supreme Court seeking an extension to the digitisation process in Bangalore and Mysore by an additional six months.

TRAIs policy is against cable operators who face a risk of running out of business if digitisation is implemented. Digitisation will result in measly revenue for cable TV operators and will become hard for them to continue operations, he said.

He also said that even in Metros where the digitisation process was taken up, there were neither guidelines by TRAI nor rate cards by television channel companies to fix the monthly rent depending on the channels prescribed.

Since these short comings were not addressed, the problem might be repeated in Karnataka too, added Raju.

Suresh Kumar, member of the Mysore unit of the Association said though cable operators were willing to provide set top boxes at an affordable rate, they were not readily available and hasty implementation of digitisation will affect operators and customers alike,

Cable Operators stage protest in Bangalore on 26th Feb Dated:Feb 28th, 2013

Bangalore and Mysores Cable TV operators staged a black flag protest and took out a procession from City Railway station to Freedom park on 26th Feb demanding an extension of the digitisation deadline set on March 31st.

The Members of the Karnataka State Cable TV Operators Association submitted a memorandum to State Home minister, Ashok.

Their demands include extension of the deadline, changing the revenue sharing model with multisystem operators prescribed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and evolution of a licensing frame for local cable operators.

Earlier during the month there was a seminar held on the Digital Addressable System, focused on discussing the technical aspects of migrating from analog to digital TV networks. Members of the Karnataka State Cable TV Operators Association submitted a memorandum to Yogendra Pal, Technical Advisor, Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, a key participant at the seminar.

Madras High Court issues stay order on Arasu Cables move to collect online fee Dated:Feb 28th, 2013

On February 20, The Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation Ltd TNACTCL issued a notification in a Tamil daily stating that the monthly subscription of Rs.70 can be made online through www.arasucable.com or through authorised agents of TNACTCL or cable operators from March 1st.

Following this a writ petition was filed by Cable Operators Guild of Madurai by president A Pandi, seeking interim injunction to the notification as temporary relief and to quash the notification as permanent relief.

When the petition came up before Justice K K Sasidharan on Wednesday, the petitioner's counsel P Natarajan told the court that the recent notification does not state anything about the income of the cable operators.

"According to an earlier direction of the TNACTCL, the local cable operators collect a monthly subscription of Rs.70 from the consumers. Out of that amount, the operators take Rs 50 to meet their infrastructure and all incidental expenses in providing cable services and remit Rs 20 to the cable corporation. In this situation, the notification has been issued without consulting the cable operators. Hence, the notification is illegal and should be quashed," the counsel explained.

Meanwhile, the petition had earlier come up for admission on Monday. However, no stay was granted at that time by the court.

Instead, the government side was given two days time to represent the case and the matter was posted to Wednesday. As there was no proper response from the government, the stay was granted.

Following the stay, the government side has now taken steps to vacate it. It is expected that the government will file a petition on Thursday which is likely to be heard on Friday.

The move by the Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation Ltd (TNACTCL) to collect the monthly subscription through online mode has been stayed by the Madurai bench of the Madras high court on Wednesday.

SITI CABLE Kolkata : first MSO, in the Country to seed more than 1 Million Digital Cable TV Set Top Boxes from a Single Digital Headend. Dated:Feb 23rd, 2013

SITI Cable Network Ltd., one of the largest MSOs of India have successfully implemented its endeavour to provide Digital Cable Television to Lakhs of Homes in Kolkata Metropolitan Area.Siti Cable., Kolkata is confident of seeding total 15 Lakhs Plus Siti Digital Cable TV Set Top Boxes in next few months.

Siti Cable viewers are now enjoying 400+ Digital Cable TV Channels with DVD quality picture, Stereophonic Sound, Multilingual Audio and host of other features. Siti Cable., Kolkata, is the only MSO to provide 40+ Bengali TV Channels.

Investment worth Rs. 150 Crores have already been done on Digitalization in East. Plans to pump in another Rs. 100 Crores in next couple of months to provide World Class Television viewing experience to its subscribers.

Siti Cable Network Ltd., is geared up to honor the trust placed by the Subscribers of Kolkata. Four very Cost Effective Packages, i.e. Siti Janta Pack, Siti Popular Pack, Siti Grand Pack, Siti Premium Pack and additional Add-On Packs are being offered for the price sensitive market of West Bengal.

Siti Janta Pack - 100 Channels @ Rs. 100/- per month plus Taxes

Siti Popular Pack - 175 Channels @ Rs. 180/- per month plus Taxes

Siti Grand Pack - 240 Channels @ Rs. 230/- per month plus Taxes

Siti Premium Pack - 315 Channels @ Rs. 280/- per month plus Taxes

Add-On Packs - Regional Packs, Sports Pack,English Pack,HD Pack,Hindi Pack, Urdu Pack, Bengali Pack, Kids Pack, etc. will also be available.

Siti Cable Network Ltd., has reassured its commitment to provide The Best Digitalized Cable TV Technology and value for money to their Subscribers.

Siti Cable, Director, Mr. Suresh Sethiya said it would not have been possible without the hardwork of Siti Network Team, hundreds of Siti Cable Operators and support of all our Subscribers.

SITI CABLE Kolkata : first MSO, in the Country to seed more than 1 Million Digital Cable TV Set Top Boxes from a Single Digital Headend. Dated:Feb 19th, 2013

On February 18th the DAS meeting held at Bangalore witnessed black flag protest by cities cable operators who demanded an extension of the 2nd phase of deadline ending on March 31st.

Karnataka State Cable TV Operators Association submitted a memorandum to Yogendra Pal, Technical Advisor, Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

They demanded extension of the deadline, changing the revenue sharing model with MSOs prescribed by TRAI and renewed licensing framework for local cable operators.

An aggressive pitch was made by the association president, Patrcik Raju, who demanded a completion of digitization of the four metros before the second phase demanded completion. He said though the government claims 100 percent digitization in Delhi, Mumbai, the ground level reality was completely different.

He said transmission and maintenance of digital transmission requires upgraded network infrastructure, well-trained team with digital measuring instruments are required and this involves huge investment.

In Bangalore, the process of installing of set-top boxes by the LCOs has started in a small way. The cable TV industry is hoping against hope to enforce digitisation in 12 lakh households left out, fearing revocation of their licenses due to non-compliance of TRAI ruling.

In the city, With only 40 per cent of households having set-top boxes, the MSOs (Multi system operators) need nearly Rs 300 crore to import these boxes from China. Presently, the city has 9 MSOs and 1500 registered LCOs (local cable operators) who will be actually installing the boxes.

Although excise duty has been waived off to 5 per cent for importing the set-top boxes, now each MSO will have to invest Rs 45 crore to implement this ruling. It takes time to import the boxes, test run and deliver them to the viewers plus a bigger challenge to convince the masses to invest Rs 1500 for a box.

The Union government notification stipulates March 31, 2013 as the deadline for all cable TV subscribers to install set top boxes and shift to a digital addressable cable TV system (DAS).

Any cable TV service which doesn't switch over to DAS can be penalized and its equipment confiscated

Yogendra Pal said that people must be aware of the initiative taken up by the ministry and adhere to the norms of switching over to the digital mode.

He added that Bangalore has 22.7 lakh cable connections. The ministry has fixed minimum charges to be collected. Exclusive of service and entertainment taxes, TV viewers will have to pay a fixed Rs 100 for Basic Service Tier, a package of free-to-air channels per month.

The other package is Pay Channel, where a minimum monthly fee of Rs 150 plus taxes. This amount increases based on paid channels chosen to view by consumers. The government has not put any cap on monthly subscription fee but because of competition between DTH providers and cable TV operators, the price will not be exorbitant," he said.

Set-top boxes cost Rs 1500-Rs 1800 apiece and are a one-time installation. But in many localities, operators are giving them away for Rs 750, a probable rebate given by TV channels which tend to gain by the new system as they get a fair estimate of their market share.

He said the government has opened Helplines with toll free numbers to people who can address any complaint with regards to overcharging of STBs or queries regarding DAS. The helpline number is 1800-180-4343.

Digitisation Brace it not Ban it!! Dated:Feb 18th, 2013

Kolkata government has long been fighting to extend digitization deadline, citing shortage of Set top boxes, unclear business models between LCOs and MSOs, law and order problem, etc.

What the government fails to understand are the immediate benefits it would generate on the whole to the state and the Central government.

The writers building, a hub of the states higher government officials which had opposed the digitization move and not installed Set top boxes has been receiving prime news and general entertainment content on television much later than citizens of the state which it governs.

Inspite of hiring private companies to keep Mamata banerjee abreast of all the news that would impact her government, a basic module of installing a set top box was not put in place which causes the delay.

The video footage of a high profile case of Sub Inspector of policer, Tapas Chowdhury being shot in public by a gangster, reached the writers building after it was viewed by the entire state that was connected via Set top boxes.

Requests were pouring from the government offices for streaming the news channel through analog mode though it was illegal. We had heard there was a shooting and that some TV channels were showing footage of the police officer being shot. But we were not getting the footage in the few news channels running here, said a source in the office of the chief secretary.

The cable operator obliged used a device called modulator to convert the digital signal of one of the channels into analogue and beamed it on its network for one-and-a-half hours on Tuesday afternoon, sources said.

That was when all TVs at the state secretariat, including those in the chief and home secretarys rooms, beamed the footage for the first time.

The top officials that were supposed to have all information first hand are the ones lacking information.

A solitary set-top box had been procured for the chief ministers room just before the second deadline for digitisation was to lapse on October 31.

But the set-top box in Mamatas room has been unplugged since December. How much long will Mamata let this drama continue.only time can tell!!

Madras High Court refuses Interim Injunction to transmit analogue signals Dated:Feb 13th, 2013

The Madras High Court has declined to grant interim injunction restraining local cable operators including Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable Television from transmitting the cable TV signals in analogue mode or operating analogue head end or importing cable TV signals from Non-DAS area or rolling out cable TV signals without DAS licence to the consumers within Chennai Metropolitan area.

Justice Vinod K.Sharma said, It cannot be said that the applicant has prima facie case to seek injunction nor the balance of convenience is in favor of him is not likely to suffer any irreparable loss, while dismissing an application filed by T. Saikrishnan.

In the suit, the plaintiff claimed that he is in cable business for last several years after getting valid licence from the postal department.

He is operating in and around Virugambakkam in Chennai. While so, other local cable operators including Arasu cable in the cable business were transmitting signals in and around the area and other areas of city without obtaining necessary licence.

The Central Government issued a notification in last November 11, implementing Digital Addressable System (DAS) to cities including Chennai Metropolitan Area and the import of signals from analogue transmission has been made illegal.

It also required to obtain a licence from the Central government for operation as Multi System Operator (MSO) for operating a control room and to provide signals to cable operators in DAS notified area.

He contended that the High Court also refused to stay the implementation of DAS in city limits. While so, cable operators, without possessing DAS licences, were operating analogue signals for re-transmission in DAS notified area and offering those illegal signals at a throwaway price. He would be put to great loss, if the interim injunction is not granted.

Arasu Cable Television got itself impleaded as party and filed the counter. It submitted that the applicant had not come to the court with clean hands and filed the application at the instigation of some vested interest who did not want the government to operate the cable TV business.

P. H. Arvindh Pandian, Additional Advocate General, contended that the Union government already issued MSO licence to Arasu cable in April 2008 which was valid up to 2013 and it also applied for DAS licence with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the application was still pending. Arasu Cable was running cable TV network in public interest to provide transmission.

Finding no merit in the application, Mr. Justice Sharma said that It is admitted that the cable operators including Arasu cable are providing only analogue system and therefore, violating law for which they can be prosecuted under section 11 and section 16 of the Cable Television Networks (Regulations) 1995.

Answering the question on whether the applicant could maintain this application for grant of interim injunction, the Judge said, No.

The Judge viewed that under the Act, the aggrieved person could file an appeal for taking action against persons or authority. The remedy for violation is provided under the Act under section 11 and 16 whereas civil suit is barred in view of law laid down by the Supreme Court, added Mr. Justice Sharma.

Metamorphosis of Digitisation Dated:Feb 7th, 2013

Chennai Digitisation has taken a serious turn in Chennai with MSOs switching off analog signals to stream a mere 10 channels as against 70 channels.

This move has taken many subscribers by surprise and has literally forced them to buy set top boxes. Evidently the viewers are not happy with this as their favorite entertainment channels are going off air one by one, starting from English GECs, Kids channels followed by news channels.

Earlier TRAIs denial of license to Arasu cable raised ambiguity over the prices of Set top boxes being sold to subscribers by different MSOs in the city.

To add to the subscribers woes, the cable operators had imparted less or nil knowledge about the urgency to purchase Set top box. Many thought availing DTH service was an unaffordable affair in comparison to their monthly cable bill of Rs100/-.

Cable operators repeated request for extension of deadline to digitise the Metro stemmed from the fact that there was limited supply of STBs in the state.

A better news awaited the subscribers as 180 pay channels came together to slash tariffs by almost half in Tamil Nadu as they were facing stiff competition from free-to-air channels for viewership and advertisements.

Starting Friday, the new tariffs will be effective and will be valid for six months, after which the broadcasters are likely to review the rates.

The cut is record lowest among sports channels as they are the most expensive of the pay channels. Eg :Espn will now cost Rs.14/month as against Rs.25 and Movies channel will cost Rs.30 in place of Rs.40.

Advertisements, driven by viewership, are top revenue earners for any TV channel and with free channels capturing viewers of pay channels, all pay channels have decided to slash rates in an attempt to retain viewership invariably impacting the Television Rating Point (TRP) of pay channels forcing them to offer competitive pricing.

"Competition among channels and service providers in Tamil Nadu has been growing. All pay channels, about 180 of them, have come together and collaboratively decided to reduce prices in Tamil Nadu," said N Yuvaraj of Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Oliparappalargal Association.

A bouquet of all these channels, which was priced at around 200, will now cost around Rs.99 per month.

The tariffs are common across service providers, whether cable or DTH, as under CAS regulation individual service providers will not be able to tamper the price.

Verimatrix to Protect TCCL's Cable TV Digitalization Initiative Dated:Jan 15th, 2013

Convergence India 2013 - Verimatrix, the specialist in securing and enhancing revenue for multi-network, multi-screen digital TV services around the globe, today announced that Thamizhaga Cable TV Communication Ltd. (TCCL), one of India's leading cable multiservice operators, has selected the Verimatrix Video Content Authority System (VCAS) architecture to provide cardless revenue security for its new digital cable TV service.

TCCL plans to digitize the entire state of Tamil Nadu in the next 12 months, and it will rely on VCAS for DVB not only to secure its new digital premium content offering, but also to help promote subscriber and revenue growth.

TCCL's new digital cable service offers subscribers 500 digital channels, 200 pay TV channels and 24 high definition (HD) channels. Internet, IPTV, video on demand (VoD), online shopping and gaming services are expected to be added in the future.

Deploying VCAS for DVB will enable TCCL to deploy a unified cardless security solution to secure both live and interactive content delivery via a single security head-end, reducing OPEX and CAPEX as TCCL expands its services.

Using a cardless security solution also eliminates the burden of managing the logistics of smart cards.

"TCCL places a strong emphasis on quality of service (QoS) and content. As such, it was very important to choose a revenue security solution that would enable us to enhance subscriber experience and expand our content library," said P. Sakilan, managing director, TCCL. "VCAS was the only revenue security solution that could fulfill these requirements while also giving us the flexibility to launch our multi-screen offering in the future."

"This is a very exciting time for the Indian pay-TV industry, and savvy operators such as TCCL are wise to leverage new technologies during their digitalization efforts," said Steve Oetegenn, chief sales and marketing officer, Verimatrix. "Doing so creates many opportunities, including expanded service offerings, new business models, increased subscribers, and other competitive advantages."

TCCL is the latest in a string of Indian cable TV operators to choose Verimatrix for their DVB conditional access needs. The key vendor selection criteria are based on the company's proven cardless security technology in combination with a multi-network platform that enables both multi-screen and hybrid DVB-OTT services.

Verimatrix is demonstrating its robust revenue security solutions at Convergence India 2013, 16-18 January in New Delhi. Visit booth #C-64 to learn how the VCAS architecture addresses current and future business and technical challenges. Verimatrix will also be hosting a Multi-network Solutions in the Real World Forum on 17 Jan. 2013 from 14:30 - 16:00 hours in Hall 18 on the Upper Floor.

ARCHIVE NEWS Kolkata Cable TV digitisation summary Dated:Jan 5th, 2013

Indian television industry had taken a new turn on October 31st when the Information and Broadcasting industry mandated switch over of cable television broadcast from analog to digital mode.

Delhi and Mumbai had successfully recorded 100 percent digitization while Kolkata and Chennai are still inching towards their goal.

Highlighting the challenges faced by Kolkata Cable Operators, primarily a huge shortage of Set top boxes in the market and secondly the cost of purchasing a set top box posed a huge set back to the lower middle class.

The state government had raised the issue with I&B ministry and requested for streaming of analog and digital mode side by side as the poor families could not afford to buy the set top boxes.

The Information and Broadcasting industry considered the MSOS plea and extended the cable digitization till January 15th.

The five major MSOs cover around 35 lakh cable TV households in Kolkata Metropolitan Area.

"Despite the extension we are still confused," said Swapan Chowdhury, one of the cable operators committee members.

Earlier there was a drive by the central government to go digital by Dec 27th while the state government opposed it. This has left us confused as they are yet to reach a definite solution, he said.

Presently 60 percent of viewers have purchased set-top boxes and by Jan 15th we expect it to increase by 80 to 85 percent. But to achieve 100 percent conversion seems impossible by Jan 15th," said Chowdhury.

Moreover MSOs have already started switching off a few English and Hindi channels whereas some 25 odd channels including regional Bengali channels are still being streamed, he said.

Suresh Sethia, director of SitiCable, one of the five major MSOs, said reducing the number of channels to 25 would help awaken the users and remind them of the urgency to purchase set top boxes.

Intels Cable TV Service will soon be a reality Dated:DEC 31st, 2012

Intel is all prepared to launch its own TV offering. It is ready to start marketing a set-top box built on its chips that will deliver a mix of streaming and cable programming to subscribers in selected markets.

The service will be aimed at viewers who want to stream content to their TVs but don't want to entirely cut the connection to cable to watch programming such as live sports.

A major barrier to entry into the TV market by the Intel is the reluctance of content owners to relax their iron grip over their goodies which has been surmounted by Intel said a source in the video distribution industry familiar with Intel's plans. The source said the service will be announced "soon."

In order to offer a good deal to the content holders, Intel has agreed to roll out its service on a city-by-city basis. Reportedly, this has excited the content providers who are more willing to give Intel more control over how content is distributed in select markets where the providers have more flexible deals with entrenched distributors.

The plan also allows Intel to work around holdouts in key markets which will prevent the content providers from blocking Intel from launching its service.

Whats in store for the content providing industry by Intel will come to light next week when Intel plans to hold a splash event about the service at CES.

If this clicks, then Intel will share the spotlight with Google TV, which will be get its share of limelight when LG introduces seven new HDTV models in five screen sizes that will sport Google's TV technology.

Price index of DEN, Digi Cable, Hathway and WWIL Dated:DEC 27th, 2012

Cable TV operators would charge a minimum of Rs.100 to Rs.275 per month from providing digital cable services that is mandated from 31 October in four metros.

The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry said four major national level (MSOs) had come out with rates for consumer packages for digital cable television. Officials of the ministry said this was a major step towards achieving digitization of cable sector for which the government has set a deadline of 31 October 2012 for the four metros.

The MSOs which have announced the prices are DEN, Digi Cable, Hathway and WWIL.

Digicable has announced a basic category (1) under which they would provide 145 channels for Rs180 and a Gold segment (2) in which 151 channels will be shown for Rs200. In the Premium category (3), 165 channels would be shown for Rs250.

Another MSO, the Hathway Cable and Datacom Limited has offered a basic package of 135 channels for Rs160 and a Medium segment of 198 channels for Rs220. In the Premium segment, it offers 242 channels for Rs275.

DEN offers Packs 1, 2 and 3 categories for Rs180 (112 channels), Rs225 (219 channels) and Rs270 (235 channels), I&B statement said.

Another MSO, WWIL has announced a Janta package of 118 channels in Rs100. WWIL has also announced Popular 1 (Kolkata) category which offers 151 channels, Popular 2 (Mumbai) which offers 153 and Popular 3 (Delhi) which offers 142 channels. All three packages are priced at Rs150.

The ministry said that as per TRAI's stipulation, the Basic Service Tier (BST) consisting of at least 100 channels should be offered for Rs100 and MSOs were expected to uphold this direction.

Kolkata analogue pay channels go off air in Kolkata Dated:DEC 20th, 2012

Latest reports confirm that several pay channels have become inaccessible in Kolkata across homes that have not gone digital yet. The Times of India reports that the analogue transmission of sports channels became inaccessible some weeks back, and early this week, kids and English news channels went off too.

Incidentally, even as the blackout is in sync with the Information and Broadcasting Ministry's pre-scheduled date for transition, it comes at a time when the state government has advised MSOs against blackout. Multi-service operators have shared in their statement to the Times of India that they will stop the transmission of all English movie channels in analogue on Thursday. And it is only after this move that the process is expected to 'encounter hiccups as a determined state government prepares to foil the Centre's attempt to enforce digitisation without taking the state government into confidence'.

Quoting an MSO official, the report added, "What should have been a combined initiative to phase out analog channels and go completely digital has turned into a political tussle with the state opposing I&B's plan and the Centre refusing to initiative a dialogue with state authorities. As a result, the industry is facing threat from both quarters." While another stakeholder added, "On the one hand, we face the threat of losing our license from the I&B ministry if we do not stick to the switchover deadline. On the other hand, disregarding the wishes of the state government is not an option as it will become difficult to conduct business. While both sides have

valid arguments for and against the digital roll-out, it is they who need to sit, talk and arrive at a solution rather than train the gun on MSOs."

Interestingly, subscribers are miffed about the fact that the state government has not specified a deadline. The report adds that with the state voicing its opposition to the transition, 'the momentum in seeding of set-top boxes has been lost'. Quoting an industry official, the report added further,"Major MSOs have managed to seed 75-80% boxes. The rest will happen only when the analog channels go off. Also, there is a 10-15% mismatch between the original subscriber base announced by cable operators and the revised estimates being handed out now. One just can't continue to wait endlessly till every home has a box because that is never going to happen voluntarily."

Residents across Chennai hoping for a deadline extension for cable TV digitisation will have to live with the current deadline as the Madras HC recently refused to extend the deadline further. The Times of India at the time had reported that the Tamil Nadu government and local cable TV operators could not get the Madras HC to extend the deadline for cable TV digitisation beyond November 19. A bench comprising Justice Elipe Dharma Rao and Justice S Rajeswaran refused to further extend the deadline on grounds that the interim order expired on November 19 itself.

The Madras High Court had previously pumped in some more breathing time for the residents of Chennai to go digital and set November 19 as the deadline for cable TV digitisation. The decision came days after the court granted Chennai an extension till November 5 from the earlier October 31 deadline after it was found that the digitisation process was far from complete.

Cable subscribers are about to get a sneaky fee Dated:DEC 10th, 2012

International- If you have cable TV service, you probably have at least one set-top box in your house. On Monday, a federal rule change takes effect that could eventually force you to rent more cable boxes.

Right now, most cable systems dont scramble the basic tier service which includes local broadcast stations, public, government and education channels, as well as some non-premium programming. Buy basic service and you can plug the cable into a digital set that has a QAM tuner and see these unencrypted channels without a set-top box.

Cable companies want to scramble everything coming through their wire, including basic service. They say this will allow them to reduce theft prevent people from watching programs they didnt pay for and improve customer service.

Their plan is to keep every cable household connected to the network and then activate or terminate service remotely, rather than sending out the cable guy. They say this will improve efficiency technicians can focus on more difficult installations and reduce the need for customers to stay at home waiting for service.

The Federal Communications Commission had prohibited the encryption of basic cable since 1994. But in October, the commission voted to allow it, starting on Dec. 10.

By permitting cable operators to join their competitors in encrypting the basic service tier, the Commission has adopted a sensible, pro-consumer approach that will reduce overall in-home service calls and accelerate cable operators transition to all-digital networks, said Michael Powell, president of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) in a statement.

Should your cable company do that, you will need a set-top box on every TV in the house to watch any cable programming.

A charge for every television The cable companies, with the FCCs blessing, have figured out how to pick the pockets of cable customers and charge them for every television they have even when they dont really need a cable box, said consumer advocate Edgar Dworsky, founder of ConsumerWorld.org

Dworsky told me he has secondary television sets in his kitchen, office and guest room. Each of these has the cable wire from the wall connected to it so he can watch his local TV stations. If his cable company encrypts those stations, which he expects it to do sometime in the next six months, hell need to get converter boxes for each of those sets or buy an antenna.

The FCC acknowledged that its rule change would adversely affect a small number of cable subscribers.

Dworsky calls that ludicrous. And he points to comments filed by the City of Boston, which warned the commission that allowing cable operators to encrypt basic service would result in real and substantial benefits for cable operators, and equally real and substantial costs for consumers.

None of the six major cable companies in the country has announced a date to encrypt basic channels.

When asked what it planned to do, Comcast, the countrys largest cable service provider, said in a statement:

Is digitization burning a hole in the customers pocket Dated:DEC 7th, 2012

The pre digitization era of Indian Television had CAS being implemented in the year 2003. In Chennai it was introduced 1st September 2003.

CAS (conditional access system), which is a digital mode of transmitting TV channels through a set-top box (STB). The STB is required to watch only pay channels, not free-to-air channels, like Doordarshan. This basically gave the customers an opportunity to select a mode that best suited their needs. Some preferred to install STBs and some did not as cost was their inhibiting factor.

Broadcast regulator TRAI had capped the pricing at Rs 5 per pay channel per month under the CAS regime, much to the disappointment of broadcasters. If one opts for all the existing channels then the pay out will be less. For example, the Sports bouquet consisting of ESPN,Star Sports and Star Cricket came for Rs.15. Under DAS, the same bouquet will cost him 100% more and the consumer will have to pay Rs.30 for the same package.

Digitisation is already a reality in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkatta . At Chennai the Cable operators association has sent request to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking immediate issuance of a digital addressable system (DAS) license to the TN Arasu cable tv corporation to enable it to commence services in Chennai.

Benefit to the customer:

Apart from enhanced picture quality the customers also have the option to choose the channels of their choice. For eg, When world cup starts, the request for the sports channels go up.

Benefit to the Broadcasters:

The problem of under declaration by cable operators will no longer be an issue as the exact number of subscribers will be recorded.

Benefit to the Cable operators:

Pricing of channels as per their demand will give an edge to the cable operators a chance to play and pay a subscription fee as per the customers demand.

Food for Thought:

The whole idea of Digitisation was to primarily offer high quality picture and sound to customers. Secondly to ensure there was no under declaration by cable operators.

But the questions that awaits an answer is, after the declaration of exact number of subscribers by LCOs which will be much higher than before, why is the per channel rate costing the customers more than before?

Star and Zee channels goes off air in Amogh Dated:DEC 7th, 2012

Mediapro has deactivated all the Star and Zee channels in Amogh cable networks in Karnataka for non payment of subscription.

These channels were off screen on Amogh networks in Karnatakas major towns like Bangalore, Mysore, Hubli, Raichur, Davangere, Shimoga etc.

Hathway released a Public Notice to their subscribers in Mumbai Dated:DEC 3rd, 2012

To all Hathway Cable TV subscribers in the city of Mumbai only This is for the information of and applies to all Hathway Cable TV subscribers having our cable TV connections in the city of Mumbai. As you are aware, as per the mandate of Central Government, the Digital Addressable Systems (DAS) have been rolled out from 1st November 2012 across all the 4 metros including Mumbai.

In view thereof and in compliance with the regulations as framed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), we have prepared and formulated new packages and a la carte choices of TV channels that we shall be offering our subscribers.

The new channel list and packages are available on our website www.hathway.com and at Hathway Local Offices/your Local Cable Operators.

Those subscribers, who have still not submitted their new channel request forms, can download the same and after filling it submit the same to your Local Cable operator or the Hathway Local office. You may also mail us on helpline_executive@hathway.net after quoting your STB card no. and contact no. This is also applicable to all subscribers in the earlier notified CAS zone of South Mumbai.

Please submit the same to the Hathway Local Office/your Local Cable operator immediately so that you can continue to receive the channels as per your choice.

CALL CENTER NO. 61656655 Email: helpline_executive@hathway.net

MediaPro activates its Channels in Kerala Dated:Nov 30th, 2012

Indianmediabook on 23rd November 2012,brought to you the deactivation of all mediapro entertainment channels as the LCOs had failed to pay the subscription charges after several reminders.

Last week the Mediapro and Lcos had met to discuss and sought out the issue amicably. A Source from Kerala Cable Operators Association said Mediapro had agreed to waive off approxiamtely Rs.40Million of the total outstanding of Rs.120Million. The LCOs had agreed to pay subscription fee of Rs.5 million per month to mediapro going forth

Following this agreement Mediapro had activated all its channels.

Breaking News Kolkata Digitisation : Siti switches off English entertainment channels Dated:Nov 29th, 2012

Kolkata digitisation is seeing some aggressive decisions made in order to up the sale of set top boxes in order to digitise the metro. A move towards this had seen Siti Cable, switch off all its English entertainment channels in their network in order to push the sale of set top boxes. According to Cable ministry around 18.57 lakhs of set top boxes were seeded in Kolkata.

WWIL announces final DAS packages Dated:Nov 26th, 2012

WWIl announces its all the DAS packages for Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. For more details please click the link below.

DAS PACKAGES.pdf

State govt denies allegations against Arasu Cable Dated:Nov 24th, 2012

A writ petition filed recently, seeking an interim injunction restraining the Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation from making any further expansion or investment in its cable business came up for hearing in the Madurai bench of the Madras high court on Friday.

In his petition, K Murugan, general secretary, Federation of Consumer Organisations, Tamil Nadu & Puducherry (Fedcot) had contended that the Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation never had the infrastructure network to roll out the signals.

As there were no popular Tamil channels such as those from Sun Group, Raj Network, Times Now etc in the Arasu Cable service, consumers are switching over to DTH. But, the government acts with a malafide intention by preventing the consumers from switching over from its monopoly network (Arasu Cable). By this, consumers' choice is denied, the petitioner mentioned.

The petitioner also alleged that the entry of state governments into the distribution of cable services have been banned under the legal provisions of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Besides, the petitioner submitted that the state government using the police and administrative powers captures the network of other MSOs. Other cable operators and broadcasters would not have freedom to propagate their own news and views to the public.

When the petition came up for admission, the division bench had asked the Central and State governments to file a counter. Accordingly, a counter was filed on behalf of the state government by the information technology secretary S K Prabakar, on Friday. In his counter, the secretary denied all the averments raised by the petitioner. The secretary stated that more than Rs 40 crore was expended by the Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation from the sanctioned sum of Rs 61.35 crore for creating infrastructure facilities.

The secretary also said that 1.6 crore colour televisions were distributed in the state by the erstwhile government and the Arasu Cable Corporation is having a subscriber base of around 55 lakh only. Hence, the Arasu Cable Corporation is not a monopoly and the consumers are not compelled to choose the same.

Prabakar also informed the court that M/s Sun Network Ltd had initially demanded Rs 15 crore per month for offering their bouquet of 33 channels to Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation Ltd and later demanded Rs 17.54 crore.

Arasu Cable orders Set top box worth Rs 200 cr from Sterlite Technologies Dated:Nov 23rd, 2012

Even as the Madras High Court is hearing the Cable TV digitisation case, it is learnt that state-run MSO Arasu Cable Corporation has placed orders for set top boxes. The Rs 200 crore order has been bagged by Vedanta Group company Sterlite Technologies.

It must be noted Arasu Cable Corporation is yet to get licence for DAS from the I&B Ministry. Arasu is the only MSO which did not get licence, while other seven MSOs did.

A Counsel representing MSOs said that around two million boxes were imported and in the last year none of the LCOs have placed order to them

A petition filed by Chennai Metro Cable TV Operators Association seeking an extension of the deadline to digitise the Metro on the grounds of lack of sufficient number of set top boxes is further extended till November 27th, said M R.Srinivasan, General Secretary Chennai Cable Operators Association in an exclusive chat with Indainmediabook.

He also mentioned the replacement of both the judges (Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar and Justice Janardan Raja) with two new judges, Justice Aruna Jagadeesan and Justice Dharmarao who have challenged the case filed by Chennai Cable Association.

They had questioned the reason for the case filed when the Chennai cable industry was given more than one years time to digitize the Metro.

M R Srinivasan said that they are compiling the list of bottlenecks faced by the LCOs that caused the delay in digitization and will present it in court tomorrow.

Hathway Cable has announced latest DAS package Dated:Nov 21st, 2012

Hathway Cable has announced latest DAS package rates for Mumbai and Delhi. please click below for the more details.

http://www.hathway.com/cable-tv/das.php

WWIL (Siti) Cable has announced latest DASl package Dated:Nov 21st, 2012

WWIL (Siti) Cable has announced latest DASl package rates for Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi. please click below for the more details.

http://siticable.com/Upload/CommonPDF/DAS%20Package%20_Kol_Mum_Del.pdf

Breaking News:Chennai Digitisation hearing postponed to 21st November Dated:Nov 20th, 2012

A petition filed by Chennai Metro Cable TV Operators Association seeking an extension of the deadline to digitise the Metro on the grounds of lack of sufficient number of set top boxes is further extended till November 21st.

Indianmediabook called on MR Srinivasan to catch the latest update on Chennai digitization. According to Srinivasan, the High Court has further postponed the hearing to 21st of November 2012.

Digitisation of the Metro was originally planned on October 31, 2012, but had been extended since the Madras High Court is hearing a petition filed by cable operators association through its General Secretary M R Srinivasan and the Tamil Nadu government-run MSO seeking extension of the deadline. The petition stated that enough number of set top boxes were not available in the market to meet the requirement of customers.

On October 31, the high court gave a stay extending the deadline for switching to digitisation to November 5. On November 5th the case was further postponed to 9th, then 19th and now its been further moved to 21st as one of the judges Justice Janardan Raja had voluntarily withdrawn from the case and is to be replaced with another judge tomorrow. Meanwhile Justice N. Paul Vasanth Kumar will continue hearing the petition filed.

Den has new DAS packages for its customers. Dated:Nov 16th, 2012

Den has new DAS packages for its customers.

In Delhi and Kolkata the DEN DAS packages are as follows:

DEN Basic Pack Rs.100

Den Intro Pack Rs.180

DEN Family PACK Rs.225

DEN Platinum Pack Rs.270

DEN Add on packs

Click on the following link for more information. http://dennetworks.com/den_das_packages.html

Race for phase II digitisation hots up Dated:Nov 15th, 2012

Digitisation is a reality now, which all stakeholders, including the local cable operators (LCOs), have accepted. With the Information and Broadcasting Ministry being firm on the deadlines of the phase-wise mandatory switchover of analogue signals to the digital addressable system (DAS) of television signals, the race has just began.

Consider this: There are 38 cities from 15 states, with a population of over 1 million, falling under the second phase. These include cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Faridabad, Navi Mumbai and Chandigarh, where seeding of set-top-boxes (STBs) has already began.

Among these cities, Hathway Cable and Datacom has the dominant position as it is already present in 25 cities, of which it is number one in 11 cities. Den Networks is present in 19 cities, Subhash Chandra-owned Citi Cable (Wire and Wireless India Ltd) is in 18 cities, while IndusInd Media and Communications (IMCL) InCable is present in 16 coverage areas.

Hathway, for instance, will invest close to Rs 500 crore during the second phase. Now that the first phase is over, the company will be looking to raise funds. And with the permission to foreign companies to own up to 74 per cent stake (from the earlier 49 per cent cap), multi-service operators (MSOs) and direct-to-home (DTH) players are hopeful that it will bring in fresh capital to trigger growth in the broadcast-carriage services sector.

Den and IMCL are looking at an investment of close to Rs 300 crore in the second phase and expect to seed around 4 million ST Bs

A senior executive at IMCL said its investment would also be in the range of Rs 300 crore. We are looking at a more realisti c 2.5 3 million STBs. The investment needed will be around Rs 300 crore and we will be open for new equity funding, the e xecutive said. IMCL had made earlier investments from the internal accruals and promoters money.

Asked if MSOs will be able to gain the incremental share, Azhar said: Right now, the energies are focussed on converting the existing analogue base to digital cable. In later stages, we might see some conversion from DTH to digital cable as consumers will see how digital cable is better.

Cable TV operators told to pay entertainment tax dues Dated:Nov 13th, 2012

PUNE: The district entertainment tax department has asked the cable operators in the city and adjoining areas to pay pending tax amounts. The department recently initiated action against two city based cable operators against the non payment of taxes and showing lesser number of customers than the actual figure.

Besides recovery of taxes, the department is also planning to ask cable operators to produce latest statistics pertaining to number of customers.

According to sources from the district entertainment tax department, notices have been issued to 13 cable operators. The tax amount with interests that is due is about Rs1.34 crore which is pending since last five years. The department is preparing a list of defaulters and soon will initiate steps to recover the taxes.

An official from entertainment tax department said that in addition to recovery of taxes, a survey is being planned in the city to identify the number of connections with every operator. There are about 76 wards spread across the city. The survey will be conducted in every ward in phases. The officials of the department will visit the customers and ask details about the cable TV services. The survey would also provide statistics on the number of houses that have installed set-top-boxes. Further action will be planned based on the findings of the survey, informed an official.

The official also added that it is mandatory for any cable operator to pay taxes against the cable TV connections. However, it has been noticed that many operators fail to pay taxes every year. It has been observed that some cable operators have submitted incorrect information to the department pertaining to the connections and number of customers, while many operators have not updated recent data. The department is initiating steps to update the data regarding cable TV services. The cable operators violating laws would face action.

The department is also planning to make use of property tax receipts to identify the cable TV connections. A plan is being worked out whether the property tax receipt number can be used to identify cable connection, said an official. Beside cable TV, the department is planning to identify the numbers of direct-to-home connections (DTH) in the city and adjoining areas. According to the estimates, DTH connection penetration has been significant in rural areas. The number of cable TV connections witnessed some decrease in last few years owing to presence of DTH services, said sources.

Chennai digitization extended till November 19 Dated:Nov 12th, 2012

The deadline for complete digitization of cable TV in Chennai has been extended again by the Madras high court, this time till November 19.

Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar, before whom the batch of writ petitions filed by the cable television operators' federation and multisystem operators came up for hearing on Friday, said since the matter involved a larger public interest it should be heard by a division bench.

During the hearing on Friday, P S Raman, senior counsel for Sun TV Network, said the media conglomerate had more than 2 lakh settop boxes (STBs) in its possession, and it would require only 20 days to start distribution if the MSOs placed their orders.

Rejecting the claim that the deadline be extended due to shortage of availability of STBs in the city, Raman said for the past four months no cable operator had approached the Sun group for supply of STBs.

Senior central government standing counsel S Haja Mohideen Gisthi said the Centre was prepared to extend the last date up to December 31 if an undertaking was given by the state government that it would implement digital access system (DAS) in Chennai within a time frame. He also furnished a copy of a letter written by the Union ministry of information and broadcasting to counsel.

Though the DAS regime has come into force in the other three metros -- Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata -- from November 1, in Chennai the deadline was extended by the high court initially up to November 5 and then up to November 9, and now till November 19.

Chennai Digitization Recap: Chennai Cable digitization deadline is Nov 9 Dated:Nov 9th, 2012

Chennai tumultuous journey of the digitisation process of cable television from analogue mode has been on news pages since the Central Government mandated that cable television broadcast should go digital from Oct 31 in four metropolitan cities Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi and Kolkata.

In Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata the dawn of digitization happened by Nov 1s 2012. Though the desired 100% mark was not reached these metros were steadily progressing towards complete digitization amidst a lot of chaos.

Chennai however had completed about 62% of Digitisation by 1St Nov. A petition against the central government's decision was filed by Chennai Metro Cable TV Operators Association seeking an extension of the deadline on the grounds of lack of sufficient number of set top boxes and The High Court had granted their wish and put on hold the digitisation process till November 5th.

Cable television operators said around four million set top boxes were needed out of which only 160,000 were available in the city

On Nov 5th as the switchover process was incomplete even after the extended deadline. The Counsel representing the Corporation told the Court that the set-up box suppliers had asked 18 weeks time to supply the boxes from the time of placing order.

Also the Company floated a tender for design, supply, installation, testing and commissioning of Digital Cable TV headend with Conditional Access System (CAS), subscriber management system, one lakh set top boxes and rate contract for a period of one year for 19 lakh STBs and services for five years.

Since the rates quoted by the prospective bidders were high, the Corporation had to cancel the said tender and issued a fresh tender.

Following which the Corporation said that the entire process cannot be completed within the mandated time of October 31, 2012 and had sought two months extension for the implementation of DAS in Chennai till December 31, 2012.

However, the Madras High Court had postponed the case till Nov 9th for further hearing.

GTPL KCBPL has announced a 45 day preview of 400+ Digital Channels at no additional cost in Kolkata. Dated:Nov 6th, 2012

Cutting across the Digital Chaos, GTPL KCBPL has launched a Preview Offer for its customers. GTPL KCBPL, a leading Multi System Operator in Kolkata Metropolitan Area has announced a 45 day preview of 400+ Digital Channels & Services through its Cisco Set Top Boxes at NO Additional Costs. This will include a preview of 20 HD Channels.

Very soon GTPL KCBPL will launch 10 Exclusive International Channels across popular genres like adventure, action, lifestyle. Company is investing around 150 Cr. to foster digitization in KMA with a range of set top boxes including Cisco Zapper that is targeted to low arpu customers to be launched in the later part of this month.

Mr. Sumit Bose, Board Member, GTPL KCBPL quotes:

GTPL-KCBPL has been a very successful joint venture and we have attained a leadership position in Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA) in a short timeframe. We believe in offering value to our customers and hence we have introduced an Exclusive Preview Offer facilitating our customers to select their choice of channels and services from a wide array of offerings. We thank our partners, local cable networks and consumers for showing tremendous faith in us.

TV viewing may cost more in Chennai-CAble Dated:Nov 6th, 2012

In a move that could be termed completely contrary to what the state government is trying to achieve bring down the monthly subscription fee for cable TV services by launching Arasu Cable TV Ltd, the Chennai corporation has hiked the rentals for cable TV overhead cables that pass through its street lamp posts (SLP) by 200 per cent for a distance of one km.

Cable operators feel this could have a slight impact on the public as the MSOs might hike the monthly subscription fee citing the increase in rental charges.

The civic body had recently revised upwards the annual rental after over a decade since 2,000 when Rs. 9,400 was fixed as the charge to use SLPs for a distance of one km. It has been increased to Rs. 29,500 per year.

From 2001, the rental has been raised with a hike of 10 per cent every year. Dues from Multi system operators (MSOs) would be collected based on this calculation and this would fetch a considerable amount to the civic body from the MSOs.

City cable operators feel that the hike would not affect them directly as most of then operate within one km area.

MSOs will have to shell out a few crores in addition every year due to this hike, which might even prompt a few MSOs to change in revenue sharing percentage with operators that could affect the subscribers too, operators opined.

However, a few operators feel this move would help ACTL as it is new to the business and it is a state run company as well.

Yet, it will be interesting to see how the MSOs are going to react at a time when tough competition prevail among them in wooing the city subscribers in the wake of set top box based cable digitisation is on cards. Rentals for overhead cables hiked The Chennai corporation has hiked the rentals for cable TV overhead cables that pass through its street lamp posts (SLP) by 200 per cent for a distance of one km This can have a slight impact on the public as the MSOs might hike the monthly subscription fee citing the increase in rental charges

SITI Cable has built up ample of STB stock which has helped in scaling the subscriber base & enhancing the market share. The management is gearing up for the opportunity being offered in phase 2 & 3 of DAS. The digital infrastructure built up for these cities is in advance stage of planning.

To facilitate the consumer an economical migration to digital cable TV, the company is offering the STB at a subsidized rate of Rs.699 as one time activation charges. The STB Seeding done by the company is under the paid scheme and the payments were realized on upfront basis. Monthly billing to subscriber will start from 1st Nov 2012, from the date of DAS implementation.

Set top boxes not welcome by most cable operators Dated:Nov 3rd, 2012

Cable operators, who have been evading entertainment duty (ED) since years, are now having sleepless nights because government has made it mandatory for cable TV viewers to install a set top box as it makes it impossible for cable operators to hide the actual number of customers.

With Bombay High Court refusing to extend the deadline for installing these equipments, cable operators have been forced to do it in Mumbai. The process will start in the city in March.

The scale of evasion of ED is evident from the fact that while there are over 5.5 lakh houses in the city there are only 1.67 cable connections as per records. There are around 50,000 houses using DTH service. Cable TV is no longer a luxury and is enjoyed by most slum dwellers. Clearly, the figure of 1.67 lakh is far lower than the actual number.

The digitization of the cable network is necessary for installation of set top boxes. The cable operators are therefore opposing digitization tooth and nail. They are trying to create resistance among their customers by highlighting only the negative aspects of these equipments.

A cable TV viewer will have to pay minimum Rs 300 per month once set top box is installed as his operator will pay taxes. Currently, the monthly charge starts from Rs 150 onwards. The customer will have to pay for the box.

However, the box will lead to better picture quality and ensure that the viewer gets minimum hundred channels.

Dawn of new Digital era for Cable TV Sun sets on Analogue Cable TV Networks in 4 Metros 100% Digitisation achieved in Delhi Dated:Nov 01, 2012

Analogue Cable Television signals were switched off by the Broadcasters and Multi System Operators (MSOs) at midnight of 31st October, 2012 in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. Analogue Cable TV signals were allowed to continue in Chennai due to the interim stay granted by the Honble High Court of Madras.

A total of 64.31 lakh Set Top Boxes (STBs) have been installed in the 4 metro cities in the first phase of digitization during the span of about 10 months from November 2011 i.e from the date of notification .First phase of digitization covers 4 metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. As per 2011 Census figures, a total of 103.76 lakh households are there in 4 metro cities. At an average rate of 80% TV penetration as per the Census, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had estimated that about 82.59 lakh households will have TV sets. After deducting 28.14 lakh DTH connections , it was estimated that there would be 65.34 lakh Cable TV subscribers who would require Set Top Boxes.

As per the data provided by the MSOs , the percentage of digitization in Delhi has gone up to 101%. In Mumbai it is 118% whereas in Kolkata it is 85% and in Chennai it stands at 63%.

Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had notified necessary amendments in Cable Television Networks Rules 1995 to create an enabling environment for Cable TV digitization. TRAI had also brought out necessary regulatory framework by notifying Tariff, Inter Connection, Complaint Redressal System and Quality of Service Regulations. Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has also issued 53 provisional registrations to MSOs to operate in DAS areas.

Ministry had embarked on an aggressive Public Awareness Campaign in the Electronic and Print Media. 6 Video spots and 12 Radio jingles were brought out by the Ministry for broadcast on Television and radio. An intensive SMS Campaign was also launched on the Mobile phones. Additionally cinema slides and hoardings on bus shelters etc, were also put up. The Blackout Advertisement carried out by the Ministry on all prominent Television channels created a massive public awareness about the digitization deadline. More than 200 channels carried the blackout advertisement of the Ministry on the same day and time in a synchronized fashion which is a record of sorts.

Ministry has been closely monitoring procurement and progress of installation of STBs by various MSOs regularly. Additionally, data was also collected from DTH operators on a daily basis. A Special Task Force was constituted to steer the entire process which consisted of various stakeholders. The Task Force met on fortnightly basis and held 20 meetings so far. Ministry also launched a

Facebook account and started a special website on digitization. Sub-Groups constituted by the ministry for national level MSOs, independent MSOs and Local Cable Operators helped the Ministry to get a feed back from ground. Extensive field visits were taken up by officials from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and technical teams from BECIL which is a Public Sector Undertaking of the I&B Ministry. The field visits were taken to assess the ground realities and provide continuous feedback so that the digitization process could incorporate the learning from the field.

A Toll free number was also designated to answer queries of people about digitization. In the countdown to the digitization, Ministry has set up a Control Room with 5 telephone lines to provide clarifications to people and answer their queries. The Control Room of the Ministry received more than 5000 calls within a span of 15 days.

Digital Cable TV system has a number of inherent advantages such as Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) which gives the information for the current programme as well as the programmes to come up. It also provides features like Movies-on-Demand and Games. A cable subscriber in digital system has facility to log in their complaints either on the Toll free number or in the Subscriber Complaint Redressal System on the web, wherein redressal of the complaint can be tracked. The consumer has a choice to select channel packages as per their choice or to select from a-la-carte list. The bill is generated by the system as per the channels chosen by the Cable subscriber. In addition to these special features the digital cable TV system provides superior picture and sound of digital quality and the consumer have a choice to select from a wide range of channels which was limited to only about 80-90 channels in an analogue system. The consumer can also subscribe to the HD channels. Digital Cable TV system will also enable the provision of Triple Play services on the same Cable TV network wherein in addition to the TV programmes, internet, radio, telephony etc., would also be available through the same cable line.

Ministry has instructed all MSOs to certify that their analogue signals have been switched off completely. They have also been asked to set up canopies/kiosks in poorer colonies to ensure Set Top Boxes are made available to them at the determined price of Rs 799/-on the spot. MSOs have also been asked to ensure the consumer is not overcharged for the Set Top Boxes. MSOs have also been advised to advertise their complaint number so that nobody takes any undue advantage of the situation.

The technical teams deployed by the Ministry in the field are constantly on the move to inspect the head ends of the MSOs in Delhi and Mumbai. It has been reported that analog signals have been switched off from all the head ends in Delhi and Mumbai while Kolkata has given mixed reports.