Cable TV digitisation: 77 per cent households covered, Delhi lagging

The government has said 77 per cent of cable TV digitisation has been achieved in the country's four cities, even as the deadline for the process ends in three weeks from now.

Mumbai leads the metros where 99 per cent digitisation process has been completed followed by Kolkata at 73 per cent, Delhi at 66 per cent and Chennai at 59 per cent, said a government statement.

Delhi, the statement said, has achieved 66 per cent digitisation. The statement said of the 23.93 lakh subscriber who require set top boxes, 15.88 lakh set top boxes have already been installed in Delhi.

Taking into consideration the progress made by DTH in these four metros, the overall level of digitisation has gone up to 84 per cent, it said.

The statement said the Information & Broadcasting Ministry has used the 2011 census data relating to households and TV penetration in four metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai after complaints that data supplied by the multi-system operator did not present the true picture of the subscriber base.

The Ministry is aiming at completing digitisation of cable sector in the four metros by October 31 and in the rest of the country by December 2014.