Mumbai: Broadcasters on Wednesday night will begin the phased genre-wise pullout of analogue television channels from the four metros of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai three weeks ahead of the complete shift to digitised delivery from 1 November.

The switching off of analogue signals of all English movie channels will start from 11 pm. They will serve a big jolt on 12 October by shutting analogue signals of Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs) for two hours between from 2 pm on Friday, 12 October, before going ahead with the switching off of analogue signals of more genres.

In a letter to multi-system operators (MSOs), Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) president and Multi Screen Media CEO Man Jit Singh said analogue signals of Hindi movie channels will be switched off in the four metros from 11 pm on 15 October, followed by English, Hindi and business news channels from 11 pm on 18 October and Hindi GECs from 11 pm on 22 October. A copy of that letter is with Indiantelevision.com.

The decision to switch off analogue channels in the four metro as part of the final push for digitisation was taken during discussions held under the aegis of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Will there not be a consumer reaction? "For subscribers who will demand these channels, we are ready to install free digital set-top boxes till 31 October. They can then watch these channels. They will need to pay for the digital services only after 31 October. Since this is a short window, there shouldn‘t be a problem," a senior executive of a leading MSO said on condition of anonymity.

MSOs who have not agreed to the switch off will, however, continue to get these channels. The major MSOs like Hathway Cable & Datacom, Den, Siticable and Digicable have, however, agreed for a genre-wise switch off ahead of digitisation.

The government on Wednesday said an average of 77 per cent of cable TV homes in the four metros have installed set-top boxes required for receiving digital television signals, led by Mumbai with 99 per cent of homes digitised. Kolkata follows with 73 per cent homes digitised, Delhi 66 per cent and Chennai 59 per cent.

As agreed during meetings at the I&B Ministry, MSOs will be giving separate letters to the broadcasters as per a draft prepared by the IBF requesting them to switch off analogue signals. MSOs are required to give complete details of the analogue signals they receive along with the letter. Such request letters were sought from MSOs as otherwise switching off analogue signals would not have been legally tenable, particularly after a recent order by the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (Tdsat) on a petition by ESPN Star Sports barring MSOs from switching off analogue signals of its sports channels before 1 November.

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Broadcasters, MSOs agree for genre-wise switch off ahead of 1 November

NEW DELHI: A task force is being set up by the Human Resource Development Ministry at the initiative of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to find ways to check the unethical mushrooming of media schools all over the country.

The Task Force has representatives from the stakeholders, concerned Ministries, the University Grants Commission, the Indira Gandhi National Open University etc. to examine and identify the problem and suitable remedial steps including setting up of an accreditation mechanism.

The I&B Ministry has already sent to the HRD Ministry a list of nominations including a panel of eminent personalities representing Films, TV, Print media and representatives of I&B.

The aim is to set up a Media Council on the lines of the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) to promote media education and research in the country.

The Task Force could examine and identify the problem and suggest suitable remedial steps including setting up of an accreditation mechanism.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, while lauding the effort, said the I&B Ministry should constantly follow up with the HRD Ministry so that a Media Council is immediately constituted to facilitate media education and training on media related discipline.