Court notice to Centre on cable operators’ plea

Chandigarh, February 10

The Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued notice of motion to the Union of India and other respondents on a petition for interim directions to maintain status quo on switchover from the existing analog system of cable TV transmission to digital addressable system (DAS) until its full implementation.

The petitioners, Pritpal Singh and others, added in the petition that the implementation was subject to availability of set-top boxes for existing subscribers of cable TV services. Directions were also sought for declaring unenforceable the blanket ban being imposed on multi-system operators and cable operators providing analog system of cable TV transmission.

The petitioners said they were cable operators in Moga. The primary requirement for implementing DAS was set-top box (STB) through which signals could be sent in encrypted form. “As on date, thousands of consumers/subscribers of cable TV services within the Moga area have not been provided with STBs due to non-availability of the requisite hardware in the market.” — TNS