NEW DELHI, APRIL 23: Television viewing is set to change across India, be it Bareilly, Jhumri Telaiya or any other small town where people are currently missing out on more than 200 TV channels, some hot and sizzling. Because the Government now proposes to bring in HITS or Headend-In-The-Sky, a digital transmission platform which will not only provide the existing 270 channels but 70 more in the near future.

According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), of the 120 million TV homes, 60 per cent are served through cable networks which provide only 40-80 channels. Compare that with the 270 satellite channels registered with the Information & Broadcasting Ministry and 70 more awaiting permission.

“Although the capacity of cable networks has been significantly enhanced over time, they are not able to cope with the demand for space from new channels,” says TRAI.

To address this disparity, the Ministry proposes to introduce HITS where all channels will be clubbed on the ground by a service provider, uplinked to a single satellite, beamed down to a single dish of a cable operator who will then decode and spread them through his existing cable network.

Existing delivery platforms allow analog transmission via different satellites, requiring multiple dish antennas or a digital Direct-to-Home transmission where subscribers are directly connected through a dish.

The Ministry is ready with the HITS policy for Cabinet approval with major changes to TRAI’s recommendation in order to maintain Government control over content while “spreading digitalisation throughout the country at one go”. “This is all the more important in view of the Commonwealth Games in 2010,” says the proposal for the Cabinet.

Going against TRAI’s views, the Ministry has proposed that uplinking be allowed only from India. “HITS is going to be the backbone of distribution of TV signals to cable operators and if the HITS operator, linked from outside, decides to stop the service on its own or on the directions of the Government of country of origin, our distribution mechanism will get paralysed,” says the I&B Ministry.

“Further, for security reasons, the Government has been empowered in the DTH policy to take over the entire service or networks of licensee or revoke/cancel/suspend the licence in the event of an emergency/war or low intensity conflict. This will not be possible in case of HITS if uplinking is allowed from outside India.”

The Ministry has also diluted the entry barrier for HITS licence. Contrary to TRAI’s counsel for a one-time entry fee of Rs 10 crore and a refundable performance bank guarantee of Rs 40 crore to ensure timely roll out, the Ministry plans to charge a non-refundable entry fee of Rs 10 crore.

This will suffice, says the Ministry, to take care of the fly-by-night operator while improving the level of competition by keeping entry barriers low. In order to attract more providers, it has proposed that cross-holding between a broadcasting company, DTH licensee and a HITS provider be restricted to 20 per cent and below.

To prevent a HITS operator from sponging off DTH signals on the Ku band, it has suggested that HITS transmit signals on the C-band alone. Given India’s geographical spread and different weather, the I&B does not want signals to be affected by rain, snow, hailstorm and atmospheric moisture as happens on the Ku band. TRAI’s suggestion was that HITS could be allowed on both bands.

Besides spreading the reach, HITS would help the Government to rein in cable operators and garner more revenue from cable TV which lacks transparency in terms of the number of connections.