Cable TV operators gear up to covert into digitalisation

Kolkata,: The scheduled conversion to digitalisation of over 100 million analog Cable TV connections in India by July one hangs in balance because of simmering confusion among various stake holders on several issues, including transparency in government policy.

This view was unanimously expressed here today by the Cable TV Operators Federation of India along with several major Multi- Sytem Operators (MSOs), Direct To Home (DTH) operators and a section of subscribers during an interactive discussion on the issue.

The meeting was organised by the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BNCCI) with large number of its members participating in the discussion.

Initiating the discussion, Cable TV Operators Federation of India state president Swapan Chowdhury squarely blamed the alleged faulty policy of the Union Government as well as the guidelines set by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for the timely implementation of the proposed conversion of over 100 million Cable TV connection across the country by next month.

He said though the TRAI had set the deadline to implement the government policy latest by July one, they were yet to announce any clear cut policy in terms of viewing charges under the new system, availability of adequate number of Set Top Boxes (STB) and extending other infrastructural facilities to the operators.

Echoing similar sentiment and speaking on behalf of leading MSO Siti Cable, Soumen Roy Chowdhury said though they themselves had geared up to supply around four million STBs to the subscribers after importing these from abroad, in absence of any clear picture from the TRAI as well as from the Union Governmernt they were finding it difficult to convince the subscribers about the proposed new tariff and other facilities connected with the new conversion before their instalation.

Mr Subho Chatterjee, General Manager, Manthan Broadband Services Ltd, another leading MSO in several states, regretted that in spite of experiencing stupendous growth of over 50 per cent per annum since 1998, the Cable TV industry was not accorded the status of an industry by any of the successive Union Governments.

Claiming that despite 'deliberate ignorance' of the authorities, Cable TV operators in India had been providing selfless services to millions of subscribers across the country in transparent manner, Mr Chatterjee said following the digitalisation more than 500 channels would be made available to the subscribers.

" Currently we provide only about 100 to 125 odd channels to them, " he said and claimed that following digitalisation the picture quality of each television set would be much better and initial charges would remain more or less the same as the present rate for each subscriber.

Also speaking on the occasion senior representative of Airtel DTH Services Arindam Paul assured top class services for the subscribers and said under the new environment they might also look into the possibility of providing very competitive rates under different packages.

Senior journalist of Kolkata Doordarshan Kendra Snhahasis Sur moderated the entire session. (UNI)