Digital television transition in India

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Digital television transition in India began in 2010.

Contents

End of an Era

31 March 2022 marked an important milestone in the history of India's broadcasting landscape as the national broadcaster, Doordarshan, phased out the last set of obsolete analogue terrestrial TV transmitters.

History

Digital satellite and cable TV

The Television Networks (Regulation) Amendment Act, 2011 has made digital satellite and cable television transition mandatory in four phases. It was implemented after multiple extensions of analogue switch-off dates. The broadcasters, Multi System Operators (MSOs), and Local Cable Operators (LCOs) were ordered by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to end analogue transmission completely on 31 March 2017. [1] [2] [3]

Phased implementation [4]
PhaseAreaRegulatory direction for Analogue Switch-offActual Implementation Date
I4 metros – Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai 30 June 201231 October 2012 (Delhi and Mumbai); 15 February 2013 (Kolkata); 17 August 2017 (Chennai) [5]
II38 cities with a population of more than 1 million31 March 20131 January 2014
IIIAll other urban areas across India with a municipality30 September 201431 January 2017 [6] [7]
IVRest of India31 December 201431 March 2017 [1]

Digital terrestrial TV

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had set the deadlines for the completion of the transition to digital-terrestrial TV Phase I (Metro cities) by 31 December 2019, Phase II (cities having a population of more than one million) by 31 December 2021, and Phase III (the rest of India) by 31 December 2023.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DVB</span> Open standard for digital television broadcasting

Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) is a set of international open standards for digital television. DVB standards are maintained by the DVB Project, an international industry consortium, and are published by a Joint Technical Committee (JTC) of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) and European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terrestrial television</span> Television content transmitted via signals in the air

Terrestrial television or over-the-air television (OTA) is a type of television broadcasting in which the content is transmitted via radio waves from the terrestrial (Earth-based) transmitter of a TV station to a TV receiver having an antenna. The term terrestrial is more common in Europe and Latin America, while in Canada and the United States it is called over-the-air or simply broadcast. This type of TV broadcast is distinguished from newer technologies, such as satellite television, in which the signal is transmitted to the receiver from an overhead satellite; cable television, in which the signal is carried to the receiver through a cable; and Internet Protocol television, in which the signal is received over an Internet stream or on a network utilizing the Internet Protocol. Terrestrial television stations broadcast on television channels with frequencies between about 52 and 600 MHz in the VHF and UHF bands. Since radio waves in these bands travel by line of sight, reception is generally limited by the visual horizon to distances of 64–97 kilometres (40–60 mi), although under better conditions and with tropospheric ducting, signals can sometimes be received hundreds of kilometers distant.

DVB-T, short for Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial, is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in Singapore in February, 1998. This system transmits compressed digital audio, digital video and other data in an MPEG transport stream, using coded orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing modulation. It is also the format widely used worldwide for Electronic News Gathering for transmission of video and audio from a mobile newsgathering vehicle to a central receive point. It is also used in the US by Amateur television operators.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Television in Malaysia</span>

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In Malaysia, digital television broadcasts, DTV or DHD, can be received via cable, internet, satellite, or via free over-the-air (OTA) digital terrestrial television - much like analogue television broadcasts have been. It began in the mid-1990s with the introduction of the Astro satellite television service, now followed by new paid television services in the 2000s, as well as the digitalisation of over-the-air TV which was expected to be complete by the mid-2010s before being shelved. This article discusses various platforms where DTV is applied in Malaysia, including Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV). Following its successful nationwide digital transition on 31 October 2019, the country became the third in Southeast Asia with digital broadcasts after neighbouring Brunei and Singapore.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital television transition</span> Global switchover to digital television

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References

  1. 1 2 "Cut-Off Date For Phase IV Of Cable TV Digitisation Extended". NDTV.com. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  2. "Full transition to digital cable TV in 2016", The Hindu Business Line , 24 September 2015
  3. Gupta, Swastik; Tiwari, Mradul; Deep, Abhay; Gupta, Alka; Garg, Himanshu; Yadav, Alok Kumar (March 2015). "Transition from analog to digital television a much awaited change in India". 2015 IEEE International Conference on Electrical, Computer and Communication Technologies (ICECCT). Coimbatore, India: IEEE. pp. 1–5. doi:10.1109/ICECCT.2015.7226180. ISBN   978-1-4799-6084-2. S2CID   17904728.
  4. Kapoor, Arun; Mittal, Amit; Sharma, Sandhir; Dhiman, Rahul (3 October 2017). "Evolution from Analogue to Digital Television in India: An Update of Stakeholders' Subscription Revenues and Challenges". International Journal of Applied Business and Economic Research. 15: 361–379 via ResearchGate.
  5. "MIB asks Arasu: Give proof of analogue switch-off". Indian Television Dot Com. 26 September 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  6. "No extension for analogue TV signal in India". Public Media Alliance. 21 February 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  7. ANI (25 January 2017). "Centre warns cable operators to switch off analogue signals in Phase III urban areas or face seizure of equipment". India.com. Retrieved 30 March 2019.