India grants new Cable TV licenses

India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has granted provisional licences to 14 multi system operators (MSOs) to operate digital cable TV services.

DEN Networks’ Nashik subsidiary DEN Discovery Digital Network has now been granted provisional registration for Mahrashtra, while Extreme Teleconnect has received a provisional license pan-India.

Other provisional licenses have been awarded to: Hindupur Cable TV Operators Welfare Association, RK Digital Cable Service, Srisivakami Amman Cable TV System, Shri Shyam Baba Cable Network, Raj Cable Network, Lonar Cable Network, Srivi Communication, Matarani Cable TV Network, Kulasekharam Television Network, Victoy Digital Network, Jajpur Digital Network Services and Treeshakti Cable Network.

Kal Cables of Chennai and Mumbai’s Digi Cable Network remain on the Ministry’s cancellation list, with Mumbai’s Scod 18 Networking Pvt Ltd also having been refused security clearance to operate.

The number of permanent (10 year) registrations for MSOs remains 230, with 337 having provisional clearance as of 15 December 2015.

Broadcasters have been urged not to provide digital signals to unregistered MSOs ahead of the completion of Phase III of India’s nationwide cable digitisation project, which is due to cover all urban areas by the end of December 2015.