A Harmonic official release states that the move will help the Sun Network to improve its service as well as revenue potential without increasing the operating costs. Sun TV is the first regional channel from India to be distributed globally for the Tamil speaking population, says the release. The network also has an entire bouquet of channels such as Udaya TV (Kannada), Surya TV (Malayalam), Gemini TV (Telugu) and others catering to different niche audiences.

Sun TV uses its own satellite transponder to distribute the channels from its headend facility in Chennai to regional cable headends throughout southern India. As a result, an estimated 1.5 million cable subscribers are able to receive Sun TV programming, the release adds.

The efficiency of Harmonic DiviCom MPEG-2 encoders and statistical multiplexing systems maximises transponder bandwidth, while improving picture quality, the release says.

Sun TV technology vice president S Kannan has been quoted as saying:"Harmonic's excellent support services and guidance produced a solution that allows us to substantially increase service today while preserving bandwidth for future growth."

Harmonic is a provider of digital video, broadband optical networking and IP delivery systems to cable, satellite, telecom and broadcast network operators. Harmonic's open standards-based solutions for the headend through the last mile enable customers to develop new revenue sources and a competitive advantage by offering powerful interactive video, voice and data services such as video-on-demand, high definition digital television, telephony and Internet access.