TV Without SET TOP Box 2013

TV Without SET TOP Box 2013

THE deadline by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for digitization of cable television in 38 cities including Nagpur, expired on Sunday midnight. Several television sets in the city went blank, as these households did not install set top box.

Though cable television network operators were hopeful that the deadline would be extended, the administration had received no such communication till Sunday late night. Additional Collector Asha Patlian said thai the administration had not received    any    communication regarding extension to digitisation deadline. As a result, televisions sets without set top box would go blank from Sunday midnight, she added.

Still, cable television network operators   were   hopeful that deadline would be extended as slightly above 50 per cent of subscribers had installed set top box. and many more still remained. Till March 28 night. 2.23.721   set  top boxes  were installed in the city. According to Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) records, there are 5,80.000 properties in the city.

Considering that over 80 per cent of these have got cable television connections. over 4.60.000 should have got set lop boxes installed. Many households or commercial establishments and hotels have more than one television sets. But. as many have opted for Direct-to-Home (DTH) services, number of set top boxes installed should have been around 4.50,000. By Sunday, according to rough estimates, around 2.50.000 set top boxes were installed. Thus, still, 50 per cent of cable television connections are without set top boxes.