The central government was forced to delay the deadline for digitization in the four metro cities to November 1, 2012 as only about a quarter of the cable TV homes have Set Top Boxes installed to receive digital transmission.

The government of India's Information & Broadcasting ministry had announced a deadline for the cities of Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai to move to the digital TV by June 30, 2012. However, the slow response by the people forced the government to delay the deadline by four months.

The delay could lead to huge financial looses to broadcasters, multi-system operators and others businesses who have already invested large amount of money and were planning to begin digital transmission from July. Digitalization will allow viewers to get a wide choice of TV channels with clarity and will also bring transparency in the industry.

The I&B ministry said in a statement that, "All the TRAI regulations for digital addressable systems will come into effect from November 1, 2012.'' It said that the assessment of ground realities compelled the Ministry of I&B to set a new deadline which would now be monitored more vigorously."

The ministry is aiming for a countrywide switch over to the digital TV by December of 2014.