Published On:Monday, April 1, 2013
Posted by abg man
40 lakh TVs go blank in 38 cities
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An estimated 40 lakh TV screens went blank across the country on Monday with the deadline for implementation of phase II of digitization coming to an end. I&B ministry sources claimed that 75% of the 1.6 crore households had shifted to set top boxes (STBs).
The Centre has also ruled out extending the deadline for switching over to digital addressable systems in 38 cities despite demands from at least two states, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
Cities including Srinagar, Coimbatore and Visakhapatnam were lagging with less than 30% of households switching over while a court stay in Bangalore and cities in Gujarat slowed down progress there. I&B ministry sources said while there was no question of an extension to any state, efforts would be made so that the transition was as seamless as possible.
I&B secretary U K Varma said, "We are giving people transition time of 5-7 days. The important thing is that the technology has been accepted and we hope to achieve full digitization soon.''
The I&B ministry has been reviewing progress of phase II on a daily basis and as per the latest data, 75% of the target had been achieved in the 38 cities. As per data received from direct-to-home operators and MSOs, a total of 1.2 crore STBs had been installed in phase II cities against the target of 1.6 crore, the ministry said.
Hyderabad, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Jodhpur and Allahabad have achieved nearly 100% digitization. In Uttar Pradesh, most cities have achieved over 60% digitization despite demands by UP CM Akhilesh Yadav for a six-month extension.
The 38 cities in 14 states expected to switch over from analog to digital addressable systems include Agra, Ahmedabad, Allahabad, Amritsar, Aurangabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Howrah, Hyderabad, Indore, Jabalpur, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kalyan-Dombivli, Kanpur, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Meerut, Mysore, Nagpur, Nasik, Navi Mumbai, Patna, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pune, Rajkot, Ranchi, Sholapur, Srinagar, Surat, Thane, Vadodara, Varanasi and Visakhapatnam.
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