NEW DELHI: The information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry will ask broadcast regulator Trai to ensure that monopolies of cable operators and multi-system operators do not flourish in the market.
The move comes even as the ministry moves from the completion of the first phase of digitization to the second phase. The second phase of digitization will involve 38 cities switching from analog to digital addressable systems by March 31, 2013.
"I have requested the ministry to ask Trai to ensure that monopolies do not continue to subsist in the market. How can we deal with this issue between now and 2014 needs to be looked at," Manish Tewari, I&B minister said.The minister added that Trai will be asked to consider the "entire gamut" of monopolies, including cable operators, multi-system operators and cross-media holdings in the broadcast sector.
"We do not want to do salami slicing at our end. We would like to Trai to look at the sector holistically," Tewari said when asked if cross-media holdings will also be considered as "monopolies." Responding to a question on geographical monopolies, Tewari said that the ministry was trying to create a "transparent architecture" that would allow consumers a wider choice of channels and were not looking at a particular state. He added that there were sectoral caps in all sectors, including telecom.
According to the ministry, 96% households in the metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai have switched to digital set top boxes. While 23.44 lakh STBs have been installed in Mumbai, 30.31 lakh have been installed in Delhi. About 93% or 18.57 lakh STBs have been installed in Kolkata and 2.66 lakh in Chennai as part of the first phase of digitization.Tewari said, "We have gone through the process of switchover of 1 crore households without major obstacles."
The move comes even as the ministry moves from the completion of the first phase of digitization to the second phase. The second phase of digitization will involve 38 cities switching from analog to digital addressable systems by March 31, 2013.
"I have requested the ministry to ask Trai to ensure that monopolies do not continue to subsist in the market. How can we deal with this issue between now and 2014 needs to be looked at," Manish Tewari, I&B minister said.The minister added that Trai will be asked to consider the "entire gamut" of monopolies, including cable operators, multi-system operators and cross-media holdings in the broadcast sector.
"We do not want to do salami slicing at our end. We would like to Trai to look at the sector holistically," Tewari said when asked if cross-media holdings will also be considered as "monopolies." Responding to a question on geographical monopolies, Tewari said that the ministry was trying to create a "transparent architecture" that would allow consumers a wider choice of channels and were not looking at a particular state. He added that there were sectoral caps in all sectors, including telecom.
According to the ministry, 96% households in the metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai have switched to digital set top boxes. While 23.44 lakh STBs have been installed in Mumbai, 30.31 lakh have been installed in Delhi. About 93% or 18.57 lakh STBs have been installed in Kolkata and 2.66 lakh in Chennai as part of the first phase of digitization.Tewari said, "We have gone through the process of switchover of 1 crore households without major obstacles."
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