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Siticable officials say HITS will provide a win-win proposition
for the local cable operators (LCOs) and last mile operators (LMOs).
Siticable's format involves giving due weightage to the LMOs and
LCOs by empowering them to collect the pay TV monies from the consumers
post CAS.
The model also proposes a 50:50 sharing of the basic tier revenues
between the HITS (headend in the sky) operator and the LMOs. Siti's
HITS plan envisages pay tier revenues being shared between the various
constituents with satellite channels retaining 40 per cent of the
total. Siticable only envisages that the broadcasters, MSOs and
LMOs/LCOs have a 33.33 per cent share in the HITS operation.
LCOs and LMOs opting for Siti's HITS plan will need to invest in
four transmodulators of Rs 80,000 each for 40 channels. Siticable
has also assured the LMOs and LCOs that it would provide digital
STBs (DVB-C) at Rs 6,000-8,000 for the basic non-interactive versions.
According to a senior Siti executive: "Cable operators are
likely to accept it (HITS) faster as it will save them the cost
of headend upgradation to accommodate the growing number of channels
and they will also save the cost of installing CA for their individual
headends."
Siti's proposed system will be scalable in terms of its ability
to migrate from analog to digital HITS once the 15 per cent penetration
is achieved per headend, he says. The service will be available
on Asiasat-3. Zee's bouquet of 17 channels will be made available
to Siticable partners.
According to a blueprint of the headend in the sky proposal, prepared
by Siti Cable, if necessary permissions come through then at a later
stage the
subscriber, through the set top box, can have a new service or go
in for a change in his service mix by calling up a toll free number
connecting to the subscriber management system (SMS) and log in
his request.
The subscriber management center gives a message to the `turnaround'
center and executes the request through a data controller. The billing
is generated by SMS and sent
to subscriber through designated means.
It is also envisaged that once Subhash Chandra's Agrani satellite
becomes operative, it will be used extensively for this purpose.
The fact that its own satellite is available means Zee and Siticable
won't have to make the huge investment which others might have to
undertake. The cost saving works out to Rs 2 million per channel.
Therefore if for a 40 channel package that's a saving of Rs 160
million, says the official.
Also read
HITS operator to gain
prominence post CAS
LMOs to get shares in pay
revenues - say MSOs
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