Parliament gave its seal of approval to the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2011 with the Rajya Sabha adopting it on Monday.

Earlier, the Lok Sabha had passed it. The legislation provides for introduction of digitalization with addressability in the Cable TV services in a phased time-bound manner across the country by 31st of December 2014.

Replying to the discussion, the Information and Broadcasting Minister, Ms. Ambika Soni described the bill as path-breaking and said the viewers will be the principle beneficiary of the digitalization process.

She said the viewers will be entitled to tariff fixing which will be done on three to six months basis by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). The Minister said the introduction of digitalization process will bring down the role of Television Rating Programme (TRP).