Compulsory digital cable TV has already come into effect:TRAI

TRAI objected to a statement of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry which said the regulations for Digital Addressable Cable TV Systems (DAS) will take effect from November 1.

"It is clarified that date of coming into effect of any Regulation/Tariff order of TRAI is as prescribed by TRAI and mentioned in the respective Regulation/Tariff order," TRAI said in a statement tonight.

It said the tariff order and regulations issued for DAS have come into force from the date of its publication in the gazette.

The statement said the Interconnection Regulations and Tariff Order (Amendment) and the Quality of Service Regulations, Consumer Complaint Redressal Regulations and Interconnection Regulation (amendment) were published in the gazette on April 30, 2012, and May 14, 2012 respectively.

"In fact, these regulations and tariff order have come into effect prior to the timelines prescribed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for timely and effective implementation on DAS.

Yesterday, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had postponed the implementation of compulsory digitisation in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai till October 31.