Cable TV Services will be digital from 1st January 2016

The cable TV is one of the most popular medium of mass entertainment & education. The country has more than 100 million cable TV subscribers. The digitization of cable TV services is under way in a phased manner in 4 phases. The road map for digitalisation of Cable TV services is as under:

Phase	Areas	Sunset date for analog Cable TV
Phase –I	Four Metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai	31.10.2012
Phase –II	Cities with a population more than one million (38 cities)	31.03.2013
Phase –III	All Other Urban areas (Municipal Corporation/ Municipalities) except cities /towns/areas specified for corresponding Phase-I and Phase-II.	31.12.2015
Phase –IV	Rest of India	31.12.2016

The consumers of 4 metros & 38 cities who were covered under phase-I & II of digitalization are getting the benefits of Digital Cable TV services. As Mentioned above, the cut off date in respect of phase-III, which covers remaining urban areas, is 31^st December 2015, after which no analog signal transmission or re-transmission of TV channels is permitted by the Law. The list of urban areas, covered under phase-III of digitalisation, is available on the website of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (www.mib.nic.in).