Dawn of new Digital era for Cable TV

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 Hon’ble 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%.