Mumbai High Court to hear plea to defer digitisation deadline

The petition filed by a local cable operator claims lack of preparedness and that there aren't enough set-top boxes. The petition will be heard on Monday, October 29, 2012

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | October 26, 2012

Has the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB), in its zeal to enforce digitisation in the four metros, got its statistics wrong? Are there enough set-top boxes to meet the requirements? The reality on the ground gives a different picture. On Monday, October 29, 2012, the Mumbai High Court will hear the petition filed by Paresh Thakker of Mumbai-based Local Cable Operator Bhavani Rajesh Cable for extension of the digitisation deadline in the four metros – Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

The petitioner stated in its petition that the current deadline of October 31, 2012 for the first phase of digitisation cannot be met due to the lack of preparedness. The petition said that a large number of consumers have still not received set-top boxes which will result in a blackout in large parts of the four metros if the deadline is not extended. It also argued that the agreement between broadcasters and cable operators are still not complete. Besides, there is no clarity on monthly subscription fees of cable subscribers.

The High Court has accepted the petition for hearing on October 29, 2012 which is just two days before the deadline.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com