District admin to survey cable TV connections

The entertainment tax branch at the district collectorate will conduct a survey of cable connections in the city and rural areas in connection with the government's directive to install set top box (STB) in every household having cable TV service.

The city and rural areas together have about 2.5 lakh registered cable connections, of which about 50,000 have STBs, officials said.

At a review meeting on Monday, the district administration asked the cable TV service providers to submit details of connections they have and latest updates on installation of STBs.

Last year, the central government had made it compulsory for cable TV consumers in the four metros to switch to STBs. The government wants cable operators to switch over to digitized format from the existing analog format of transmission. The plan is being implemented across the country in a phases and Pune city has been listed among the 34 cities which will switch over to digital format after March 31.

An official in the entertainment branch said, "Consumers in Pune are expected to install STBs by March 31, while consumers in the rural areas are expected to get them installed by October next year. We have asked the cable TV operators to create awareness among consumers to install STBs. We have also asked them to provide STBs to the consumers to avoid delay."

The official said that the branch was also planning to conduct an independent survey to ascertain the exact number of cable TV connections with every operator. "Operators have been showing lesser number of connections to evade entertainment tax. Also, there was no effective system in place to re-check the statistics provided by the operators. Now, following the government's decision to make STBs compulsory, we will be able to get the exact number of cable connections."

The entertainment branch has also sought details of property tax receipts to ascertain the exact number of cable TV connections with the every cable operator. Officials said that they were in the process of collecting the data.

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/national-news/item/810-district-admin-to-survey-cable-tv-connections.html
Source: http://cablequest.org/news/national-news/item/810-district-admin-to-survey-cable-tv-connections.html