India is extending the final date for Phase IV of cable TV digitization to 31 March, 2017 in the wake of the pending court cases and unsatisfactory progress of installation of Set Top Boxes (STBs) in Phase IV areas.
The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting had earlier set 31 December, 2016 as the deadline for completing digitization in rural areas under Phase IV. The India government will issue a notification in this regard shortly.
31 January, 2017 will be the new deadline for the remaining subscribers in Phase III areas to switch over to digital mode of transmission.
Some MSO Associations / individuals had moved various High Courts and obtained either extension of cut-off date / stay on the digitization initiative. High Court of Delhi has disposed-off most of the cases. The government is hoping that the remaining cases would also be finally disposed-off in near future.
The ministry will be issuing instructions to the Broadcasters, Multi System Operators (MSOs), Local Cable Operators (LCOs) and the Authorised Officers to ensure that no analog signals would be transmitted over the cable networks in Phase III areas after 31 January, 2017.
