Govt set to announce new schedule for cable digitisation drive

The government is set to announce a new schedule for the drive for digitisation of cable sector and a notification is likely to be issued soon.
"Digitisation is on track and will happen as per new schedule," Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar tweeted.
Sources said that the decision to postpone the digitisation deadline is being taken to to allow more time to domestic manufacturers of Set Top Boxes (STB) to meet the demands created by this drive.
They said that the ministry is planning to issue a notification and the deadline for Phase III of digitisation could be extended to December 2015 and the deadline for the Phase IV, under which the entire country would be covered, is likely till December 2016.

Earlier, the government had set December 31 as the date by which the cable sector across the country would be completely digitised.
"It has also been felt that some of the work related to digitisation had got slowed in the previous regime. Moreover the government is keen the domestic producers are in a position to meet the demand for STBs," an official said.