Chennai: In its reply to the letter received from Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) on the status of switching off analogue signals in the state, Thestate owned Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable Corporation (TACTV) has asked for time till December this year to complete the process of digitization of cable network across Tamil Nadu.
TACTV has requested that the Digital Addressable System (DAS) licence given to it should not be revoked as the process of providing set-top boxes (STB) to its customers had already begun.
It may be noted that Tamil Nadu CM has launched the Free Set-top-Box distribution scheme in Tamil Nadu in an official function held recently. This means that
The MIB, in a letter late last month, sought to know if TACTV had complied with the condition of the provisional DAS licence issued to it that a switchover to digital signal should be completed within three months.
“Since the date for TACTV to switch over to digital cable service in the State is already over, you are directed to confirm that you have already switched off analogue signals and are carrying only digital encrypted signals on your cable TV network,” the letter said.
The MIB had given TACTV 10 days to file a reply failing which its licence would be cancelled.
Arasu Cable TV notified that “Technically, the licence has been implemented. Our Chief Minister has already rolled out the scheme (of providing free STBs) and the process is on. It will take us time to complete the full rollout across the State, and this has been conveyed to the Ministry,”
The source said adding that time has been sought till December. The pending case regarding digitisation before the Madras High court has also been brought to the notice of the MIB to ensure that the provisional licence is not cancelled.
Earlier, TACTV was given a provisional DAS licence in April this year. The cable corporation had sought an additional one month’s time till August to switch over to digital signal.
