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Digitisation: Bombay HC gives the go ahead; Madras HC extends till 5 Nov
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: The government’s drive for first phase of cable TV digitisation in the four metros from 1 November received a boost with the Bombay High Court dismissing a petition by local cable operators (LCOs) seeking its delayed implementation.
The digitisation push, however, hit a minor hurdle with the Madras High Court extending the deadline to 5 November on the ground that only less than 70 per cent of cable TV homes have installed set-top boxes (STBs) required to receive television channels in digital mode.
The Bombay High Court declined to grant relief to the LCOs saying a significant portion of television homes in the city has already been digitised. The Bombay High Court was of the view that the remaining households which still received analogue television signals would also be digitised in due course.
The judges hearing the petition said: “In June, you knew you have time till October. What have you done till today?”
The judges, however, wanted the Union government to consider giving relief to TV viewers during the Diwali festive season. “We do not want people‘s Diwali blacked out. Television is the basic source of entertainment for the average middle-class family. We are concerned about the consumers and not the operators,” judge Chandrachud said.
The dismissal of the petition by the Bombay High Court was confirmed to Indiantelevision.com by Kuldeep Puri, one of the petitioners and a promoter in Hathway Bhawani Cabletel and Datacom Ltd. A clutch of cable operators had approached Bombay High Court seeking extension of the digitisation deadline as they needed more time to get their networks fully ready for digital delivery of television channels.
The government has set 1 November as the deadline for compulsory switchover to digital delivery of television channels in the four metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.
Apart from Puri, the other petitioners were Paresh Thakkar, all associated with multi-system operator (MSO) Hathway Cable & Datacom, and a group of cable operators from the eastern suburbs of Mumbai like Chembur, Ghatkopar and Govandi.
The Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s counsel told the court that Mumbai was already 100 per cent digitised and it could be confirmed from the MSOs.
In Chennai on the other hand, the cable operators got interim relief. Madras High Court judge Paul Vasanthkumar pointed out that the government itself has admitted that the cable operators in the city had achieved less than 70 per cent of the target of installing digital STBs.
The Madras High Court order came on a petition by Chennai Metro Cable Operators’ Association (CMCOA) General Secretary M R Srinivasan.
The petitioner’s counsel V P Gopalan argued that there were four million TV households in Chennai but STBs had been installed in just 200,000 homes, while another 700,000 were covered by direct-to-home (DTH) television service providers.
The I&B counsel told the Madras court that according to data received by the ministry from the MSOs, 62 per cent of cable TV homes have switched to digital television, and after inclusion of DTH homes the figure goes up to 86 per cent.
Talking to Indiantelevision.com from Chennai, Srinivasan said CMCOA will ask for extension of the deadline by at least three months when the case comes up for hearing on Monday.
CMCOA’s argument is that the actual number of homes seeded with STBs is only 200,000 out of 4 million cable television homes and that a large number of TV sets will go blank if the government sticks to the digitisation deadline.
Srinivasan also said the government will have to direct the MSOs to procure enough boxes and monitor the digitisation process on a weekly basis to ensure that the digitisation target is met.
The state-owned MSO Arasu Corporation, he said, was not present in Chennai and is yet to receive DAS licence which also added to the delay. Furthermore, other MSOs (Kal Cable and SCV) in Chennai are offering STBs only to cable operators who are paying in advance as per requirement.
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Inshorts Group chief Deepit Purkayastha joins IAB video council for Southeast Asia and India
The co-founder and chief executive of the short-form content platform has been inducted into the IAB SEA+India Video Council, giving India a stronger voice in shaping digital video frameworks
NOIDA: India has long been the world’s most chaotic, multilingual and mobile-first digital market. Now, one of its most prominent short-video executives is getting a seat at the table where the rules are written.
Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts Group, has been selected as a member of the IAB SEA+India Video Council for 2026. Run by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the council brings together senior leaders from Southeast Asia and India to shape standards, best practices and measurement frameworks for the fast-evolving video and digital advertising ecosystem.
The timing is pointed. According to the IAMAI-Kantar Internet in India Report 2025, over 588 million Indians are now consuming short-video content, with growth increasingly driven by rural and non-metro audiences. India’s active internet user base has crossed 950 million, with 57 per cent of users now coming from rural markets. Yet the frameworks that govern how video consumption is measured and monetised were largely designed for single-language, Western markets and have struggled to keep pace with the scale, diversity and complexity of India’s digital landscape.
Purkayastha is no stranger to these debates. He already serves on the AI Council at Marketing and Media Alliance India and as co-chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee at the Internet and Mobile Association of India. His induction into the IAB SEA+India Video Council extends that influence into the global video standards arena.
Inshorts Group sits squarely at the intersection of these forces. Its flagship product, Inshorts, India’s highest-rated short news app, reaches 12 million active users with 60-word news summaries. Its sister platform, Public App, reaches 80 million monthly active users across more than 700 districts and 12 languages, serving communities that most global platforms barely register.
Purkayastha said the opportunity was about building something more representative. “India today sits at the centre of the global video ecosystem, but the frameworks that define how value is created and measured have not always kept pace with the realities of our market,” he said. “Being part of the IAB SEA+India Video Council is an opportunity to contribute to a more representative and future-ready approach, one that accounts for diversity in language, context, and user intent.”
As a council member, Purkayastha will contribute to shaping regional standards across video advertising, measurement and platform governance, with a focus on frameworks that are native to India’s multilingual, mobile-first ecosystem rather than imported from global benchmarks designed elsewhere.
For years, India has been content to play by rules written for other markets. Purkayastha’s induction is a signal that it is done waiting to be consulted and ready to start writing them.
