MUMBAI: Chennai, one of the four metro cities to undergo cable digitisation, may miss the deadline as the Tamil Nadu government is planning to approach Information & Broadcasting ministry seeking a six month extension.

State information minister Mukkur N Subramaniam has told the assembly that the state government will seek more time in order to complete the digitisation of cable networks.

The city has an estimated two million cable and satellite homes.

The state government is planning to go digital with Arasu Cable Corporation and is targeting a subscriber base of 10 million.

The subscriber base of the government-owned cable corporation has increased from 4,94000 to 4.95 million with the operator base being at 21,123, Subramaniam said.

At present, the corporation provides services with a bouquet of 100 channels, including free-to-air channels, pay channels and private local channels.

As on 30 April, the monthly subscriptions from local cable operators and MSOs amounted to Rs 326.7 million apart from the advance payment of Rs 259.7 million collected.