4 lakh TVs left to be digitised

Two weeks after the Bombay high court refused to extend the digitisation deadline, cable operators have been running from pillar to post to fix set-top boxes in homes.

While operators claim that manpower and insufficient stock of boxes are problems they are grappling with, more than 85% of digitisation is complete.

“We are yet to fix the boxes in 4 lakh homes in the city. Most of the pending connections are in slum areas,” president of the Cable Operators’ Association Anil Parab said. He added that it would take another 20 days for operators to fix them.

Operators fear that people may go for direct-to-home (DTH) connections, which will directly impact their business. An operator in Andheri (West) said, “DTH operators woo consumers with large-scale advertisements.  We are likely to lose a lot of clients as the deadline was not extended. We are still fighting for the extension of deadline.”