New Delhi, Aug 18 (IANS): The information and broadcasting ministry is expediting the process of cable TV digitisation in all eight northeastern states within set deadlines.

A workshop in this connection will be held in Shillong on Friday to be attended by nodal officers of all northestern states, according to a statement by the Manipur Information Office here on Tuesday.

Under the digitisation programme, existing cable networks will stop carrying analogue signals from the specified date of the analogue switch-off, after which only digital signals would be carried.

In order to receive digital signals, consumers will have to install a set-top box failing which they will not be able to receive TV signals after the switch-off date.

In the third phase of the programme initiated by the ministry, all urban areas will be covered by December 31, 2015.

After successfully completing the first two phases in the four metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai by October 31, 2012, and 38 cities with a population of more than one million by March 31, 2013, respectively, efforts are on to implement cable TV digitisation in areas under the third and fourth phases.

In Phase III, all other urban areas under municipal corporations and municipalities in the country will be covered by December 31, 2015, and in Phase IV, the rest of India by December 31, 2016.

Advantages of cable TV digitisation, salient features of the Cable Act and Rules, authorised officers and their powers, cut-off dates for Phases III and IV, areas under these are among the issues that are on the agenda of the Shillong workshop.

All state and district nodal officers nominated by the governments of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim and the registered multi-system operators (MSOs) permitted to operate in these states will attend the workshop, the statement said.