Parliamentary committee to review Digitisation

Last month was very hectic for the broadcast industry with number of events taking place in different parts of the country. First TRAI issued a consultation on renewal of DTH licenses as Dish TV license needed to be renewed after it completed 10 years in October. A disturbing news from the Ministry of Home Affairs has complicated the renewal of licenses and registration of DTH, MSO and TV channels by mandating that these companies must get a security clearance from the Ministry every three years.

New Media is gaining fresh grounds in the video distribution market. There are encouraging news from developed countries where online viewership has surpassed the TV viewership in some cases. Netflix has seen more viewers than world's premium original  programming channel HBO. In this issue we carry some interesting articles on New Media including security aspects for video content on multi screen. 

The Parliamentary standing committee for IT is in the process of reviewing the implementation of digitilisation. It will also decide how Phase-3 and 4 will be handled. Committee had its first meeting in Mumbai on 22nd October I&B Ministry officials stopped many LMOs and independent MSOs from entering the venue after Cable Operators complained  to the I&B  Minister  about the incident and on his directions all were allowed to  present before the parliamentary committee.

Cyber Optic and integration company based in Hyderabad  had organized a one of its kind seminar on digitization where all types of technology solution companies made very educative presentations. More than 100 independent MSOs & Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka were present at the event.  It was very encouraging to see the response.

Cable Operators Associations from all over the country had been meeting the political bigwigs to apprise them of the problems they faced due to alleged unfair and impractical regulations. They even met I&B Minister, Manish Tewari in order to find a solution to their problems and also apprised him of the problems faced by the consumers.

One year has passed since Phase I was declared closed and MSOs in the metros are still struggling with SMS and Billing problems as CAF forms have not been submitted and consumer choice has not been provided. Phase 2 cities still face the problem of seeding STBs to all the existing consumers. 

There were two exhibitions held in Mumbai last month, one for studios and production industry and the second for Cable TV and Satellite industry. On going recession had its effect on the exhibitors as well as the visitors. However there was a lot of enthusiasm among the phase 3-4 operators in gathering information on the equipment and services showcased by some international as well as Indian vendors. 

I will also like to remind all that this time our annual industry guide and directory will be separate  from the January 2014 issue of Cable Quest so that we are able to provide you more information. Please hurry up if you wish to insert your contact details in the directory or advertise in this once a year publication.

Festive season is on and we wish all readers a very Happy and prosperous Diwali.

Source: http://cablequest.org/articles/editorials/item/3507-parliamentary-committee-to-review-digitisation.html
Source: http://cablequest.org/articles/editorials/item/3507-parliamentary-committee-to-review-digitisation.html