Digitisation deadline will be met: I&B

60% digitisation has been achieved in 38 cities falling under second phase of govt mandated drive

Even as the the Information & Broadcasting Ministry figures show 60% digitisation has been achieved in the 38 cities falling under the second phase of Government mandated drive, the I&B secretary Uday Kumar Varma has asserted that the deadline of March 31 will be met.

Giving a keynote at the Valedictory session of FICCI Frames, Varma said, "Digitisation is happening smoothly. We have achieved 60% digitisation in the second phase. Subsequent to 31 march, the process will be irreversible," he said.

Out of the 38 cities that are going digital in second phase as many as 10 cities have achieved 75% digitisation. He said 5 cities are problematic with less than 30% switchover. These include Ranchi, Srinagar, and one in Tamil Nadu.

"Out of 16 million STBs that are to be installed, 10 million have already been installed while six million are yet to be installed. However, we are confident that these will be installed well within the deadline," he said.

Varma also said that the industry needs to keep the spirit of alignment to take the digitisation to its logical conclusion. However, he added that digitisation is still an incomplete task as even in phase I, only Set Top Box (STB) has been installed and other aspects like Subscriber Management System (SMS) and billing system are yet to be put in place.

Digitisation, Varma said, will correct the aberrations of business model in the broadcasting industry and usher in era of transparency.

He  also urged the industry to start a marketing campaign informing consumers the benefits of digitisation and the price that they have to pay post digitisation.

He also said that the role of state governments is important for effective implementation of digitisation.

He also reiterated that the government can step in to provide guidelines for an independent television audience measurement system should the industry ask for it.

"We need a robust and healthy ratings measurement agency," he said.