India's migration to full digital broadcasting has been set for 31 March 2015. 'Digitisation will help industry grow at an accelerated speed,' says Zee News CEO, Barun Das. 'It is the key to problems like distribution bottlenecks and under-declaration, leading to loss of subscription revenue that broadcasters face today.'
The target date has been set by the country's Information and Broadcasting Ministry in a proposal sent to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). This will now be presented to the Union Cabinet for approval. Previously, Broadcast regulator TRAI was looking to complete the first migration in March 2011.
The move is expected to phased, with the metropolitan areas of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai leading the way. Their target will be 31 March 2012. The next step will involve a further 35 cities, including Patna, Chandigarh, Pune and Bangalore, with a target of 31 March 2013. All urban services are expected to complete their migration 30 November 2014, and the remaining areas by 31 March 2015.
The expectation is digitisation will force down the cost of set-top boxes and delivery by up to 50 per cent of what is current.
