Fourth Phase Of Cable TV Digitisation Likely To Start In 2016

The Centre is looking to complete the third phase of digitisation of cable television by 2015. Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Information and Broadcasting, Prakash Javadekar, has said that the Indian cable TV digitisation is the biggest such exercise in the world. "It will change the face of Indian television," he added.

The fourth phase of digitisation is likely to start in 2016. Around 12 to 15 crore of TV sets are expected to be covered under this exercise.

On the question of whether consumers should pay for a channel and still bear with advertisements, Javadekar said: "Why should consumers pay?... This isn't done. We'll resolve this." However, he also added that the free-to-air channels will not have to stick to 12-minute advertisement cap.