This will entail an additional expense of about Rs 70 million , outside the Rs 1 billion investment incurred for the conditional access system (CAS). Under the CAS preparation, Hathway had readied for a 40-channel headend.

"We are pushing for voluntary CAS. We aim at penetrating 8 per cent of our cable TV subscribers in the three metros within one year. We have subscribers in upmarket areas in these cities who may switch from analogue to our digital service," says Hathway Cable & Datacom chief executive officer K Jayaraman.

Though Hathway will offer 140 channels under its digital cable TV service, the STBs are capable of receiving 500 channels. Hathway is also exploring the possibility of tying up with niche content channels.

Hathway has procured the equipment and the whole set up is currently being erected, says Jayaraman. "Commissioning engineers from Scientific Atlanta have already reached and trial runs will start from 15 October," he adds.

Hathway is working out incentive schemes for its franchise operators to deploy the digital STBs. "We are finalising on the terms. We will offer our local operators and joint venture partners an incentive per box deployed," says Jayaraman.