The government policy on two key new generation technologies—Headend in the Sky, or HITS, and Internet Protocol Television, or IPTV—will likely be announced by the end of this month.HITS enables digital transmission at a fraction of the investment currently made by cable operators. IPTV provides digital television signals on a broadband connection.
“We have completed all the processes. In the final stage, clarifications were sought by two ministries. Those have also been cleared and we have sent it to the cabinet. Unless there are some clarifications or objections at this stage, we hope the policy will be announced by the end of the month,” said Asha Swarup, secretary, ministry of information and broadcasting.
The consultation process on both the technologies were initiated by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, or Trai, in 2007 and completed earlier this year. Trai’s recommendations covered issues including licensing, eligibility of service providers and foreign direct investment limits, which is 74% in the draft policy.
“Trai is pursuing complete digital transmission for the broadcast sector by 2010. Our recommendations on both these technologies reflect this broader objective,” said Trai chairman Nripendra Misra. “On both these policies, we have tried to maximize a facilitatory role and minimize regulatory intervention.”
A HITS operator downlinks signals of broadcasters to a centralized facility where they are decrypted and combined into a single signal. Thereafter, a common encryption is signed and the signal is uplinked to the operator’s satellite. That signal can then be accessed by multi-system operators and cable operators by using a transmodulator.
“Our calculations show that to set up a facility that can transmit 100 channels, a cable operator needs to spend only Rs1.2-1.5 lakh, whereas currently a similar facility needs an investment of Rs4-5 crore,” said Avnindra Mohan, executive vice-president, Essel Group. His group’s DTH operator Dish TV will be the first off the block in providing HITS services, which he said will be launched in a few days.
Typically, an IPTV service is bundled with broadband Internet access and is known as triple play. State-run telco Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) had already marketed triple-play services on a trial basis. Though the trials met with mixed response, the company hopes to roll out IPTV in a big way with better content, said Kuldeep Goyal, chairman and managing director, BSNL.
“Since the policy was not finalized, there was no clarity on IPTV services and that meant either channels did not give us content or they demanded a hefty price. Once the policy is finalized, we will roll out IPTV in a big way. In the first phase, we will provide the service in all the big cities and soon we will expand to smaller cities as well,” Goyal added.
Policy for HITS, IPTV likely to be announced this week - livemint
“We have completed all the processes. In the final stage, clarifications were sought by two ministries. Those have also been cleared and we have sent it to the cabinet. Unless there are some clarifications or objections at this stage, we hope the policy will be announced by the end of the month,” said Asha Swarup, secretary, ministry of information and broadcasting.
The consultation process on both the technologies were initiated by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, or Trai, in 2007 and completed earlier this year. Trai’s recommendations covered issues including licensing, eligibility of service providers and foreign direct investment limits, which is 74% in the draft policy.
“Trai is pursuing complete digital transmission for the broadcast sector by 2010. Our recommendations on both these technologies reflect this broader objective,” said Trai chairman Nripendra Misra. “On both these policies, we have tried to maximize a facilitatory role and minimize regulatory intervention.”
A HITS operator downlinks signals of broadcasters to a centralized facility where they are decrypted and combined into a single signal. Thereafter, a common encryption is signed and the signal is uplinked to the operator’s satellite. That signal can then be accessed by multi-system operators and cable operators by using a transmodulator.
“Our calculations show that to set up a facility that can transmit 100 channels, a cable operator needs to spend only Rs1.2-1.5 lakh, whereas currently a similar facility needs an investment of Rs4-5 crore,” said Avnindra Mohan, executive vice-president, Essel Group. His group’s DTH operator Dish TV will be the first off the block in providing HITS services, which he said will be launched in a few days.
Typically, an IPTV service is bundled with broadband Internet access and is known as triple play. State-run telco Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) had already marketed triple-play services on a trial basis. Though the trials met with mixed response, the company hopes to roll out IPTV in a big way with better content, said Kuldeep Goyal, chairman and managing director, BSNL.
“Since the policy was not finalized, there was no clarity on IPTV services and that meant either channels did not give us content or they demanded a hefty price. Once the policy is finalized, we will roll out IPTV in a big way. In the first phase, we will provide the service in all the big cities and soon we will expand to smaller cities as well,” Goyal added.
Policy for HITS, IPTV likely to be announced this week - livemint
