With the government regulation requiring all the Cable service providers in metro cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai & Kolkata) to go digital by June 2012, subscribers of digital cable will soon have the right to demand any channel available in India.
“In the present case the analog cables can carry a limited number of channels. Therefore, a selection is made by the local cable operator of which channels to provide and the consumer is left with no choice. After digitisation consumers will be able to pick and choose the channels that they want and through a Set Top Box (STB), these channels will be provided to them and they would pay money only for the chosen channels” said Rajiv Takru, Additional Secretary in the I&B ministry in a press conference.
Furthermore, TRAI will decide on the price of each channel and consumers will know in advance what price they will have to pay for each channel (just like DTH platforms).
Cable digitization will also pave way for much more accurate TV ratings.
[via ET]
