HITS process moves ahead

New Delhi, Aug 24 (UNI) Star TV, Zee Network, DTH operators Dish TV and Tata Sky are among the 18 stakeholder who have sent their responses to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India(TRAI) consultation paper on HITS (Headend-In-the-Sky) released in July.

HITS is a satellite-based platform for delivering multi-channel television signals to cable operators across the country and is capable of delivering TV signals in digital form with addressability feature.

The TRAI had been asked by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to formulate and recommend the policy guidelines for HITS operation.

Comments sought related to issues such as scope of HITS operation, spectrum band for its operation, FDI limit, entry fee, annual fee and spectrum fee, uplinking restrictions and cross-holding restrictions.

HITS platform has various advantages over analogue transmission as it has increased channel carrying capacity over cable, better reception and added features like programme guide and multiview.

It can give more choices of channels to consumers through cable operators at one go as HITS satellite would have country-wide footprints.

Such features are currently available only to a limited number of cable subscribers in notified areas of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, where conditional access system (CAS) has been put in place.

HITS could become one of the efficient means to digitalise cable operations across a large market, feel experts.

There are at present 60,000 cable operators serving 70 million cable homes.

UNI