(3 September 2007 5:00 pm)

NEW DELHI: Delhi-based multi-system operator (MSO) Home Cable has applied for permission to downlink four channels in collaboration with Thema TV.

The channels are EuroNews, Trace TV, C Music, and Luxe TV. While EuroNews is Europe's news channel covering world news from a European perspective in a choice of seven languages, Trace TV is a multi-cultural, urban music and lifestyle channel. C Music is an international classical “music-video” channel that takes a pop style approach to the presentation of classical music, while Luxe TV is a full HD (High Definition) TV channel dedicated to the luxury world. It covers six luxury sectors - Real Estate and Home Design, Sports and Leisure, Hotels and Gastronomy, Beauty and Fashion, Cars and Yachting, and Jewellery and Watches.

Home Cable managing director Vikki Choudhry, who is also President of the National Cable and Telecommunication Association, admitted that cable operators and MSOs were now better prepared for expansion of Cas (conditional access system) than last year.

Cas has so far managed a low penetration of around 25 per cent in the southern upmarket areas of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, he added.

Referring to the proposed Content Code, he said the country already had Programme and Advertising Codes, and the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 and rules framed thereunder also prescribed certain dos and don’t’s. There was, therefore, nothing wrong with a Content Code, as long as it is brought about with unanimity about its clauses.

Home Cable, an independent MSO, transmits around 86 analogue and 160 digital channels. Incablenet is supplying its feed and digital set-top boxes to subscribers of Home Cable in South Delhi.