Shillong, July 13: The Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Thursday reviewed the status of cable TV digitisation in the North Eastern states.
This was reviewed during a workshop held at Hotel Pinewood in Shillong, by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting joint secretary, Manoj Kumar Pingua which was attended by State Level and District Level Nodal Officers from North Eastern States and Multi System Operators (MSOs) operating in the region.
The Central government has mandated with effect from April 1, 2017, that only digital encrypted signals can be carried on the cable television networks in the country, where cable subscriber cannot watch TV programmes without installing a Set Top Box (STB).
For its successful implementation, it is important that regular monitoring is carried out by authorized officers (DC, SDM and Police) as per Sec 2 of the Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act, 1995 to ensure that cable operators carry only digital encrypted signals, follow provisions in the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 and Rules framed there under, and prompt action is taken against defaulters.
Cable TV Digitization has been implemented across the country but still it has been found that there has been lack of awareness among different stakeholders, consumers, government officials, MSOs.
The workshop was organised in order to raise awareness.
Pingua said that though most States have made remarkable achievements in the implementation of Cable TV Digitisation, there are some of states where the seeding of Set Top Box was not up to the mark and requested the State Authority and Nodal Officers to complete this at the earliest.
He also hinted that there may be some mistakes while feeding of data in the portal by MSOs.
The Joint Secretary hoped that this kind of workshops will go a long way in doing away with all the doubts and miscommunications among the stakeholders, thereby increasing the seeding percentage of Set Top Box across the country.
As per the Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act, 1995 and Rules framed there under, no multisystem operator can provide cable television services with digital addressable systems without a valid registration from the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.
Registered MSOs must transmit all TV channels only in Digital and encrypted format and STBs supplied by MSOs must be Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) compliant.
Registered MSOs must operationalise the cable service within six months of getting the registration failing which, their registration is likely to be withdrawn or suspended.