The Madras High Court has granted an interim injunction to Chennai Metro Cable TV Operators Association, extending the Cable TV Digitization deadline in Chennai from October 30, 2012 to November 5, 2012, reports PTI (via The Economic Times). This injunction follows a writ petition filed by the president of the Chennai Metro Cable TV Operators Association as indicated by the report. Note that we were unable to locate the related judgement on the Madras High Court Website. Not Enough Set-Top Boxes: According to the report, the Chennai Metro Cable TV Operators Association had claimed that it was facing difficulties in procuring the requisite set-top boxes (STBs) for implementing a Digital Access System (DAS) in Chennai. It also claimed that only 1.64 lakh homes in Chennai currently have STBs, contrary to government claims and that if the cable TV digitization deadline was enforced, more than 30 lakh homes would not have a television signal from November 1, as indicated by a similar TOI report. The association had therefore filed a petition to seek a complete stay on the implementation of DAS in Chennai till the necessary infrastructure was available. Govenment Response: In response to this petition, S Haja Mohideed Gisthi, the advocate representing the central government, opposed any extension in the deadline since the petition was filed at the last minute, as indicated by the TOI report. He mentioned that the deadline had already been extended thrice, since its announcement in January 2011 and the government had inked an agreement with the cable operators to offer necessary STBs and it…
