SITICABLE-SPACE VISION: A SHORT-LIVED MARRIAGE

MSO Siticable's alliance with Space Vision, a large cable operator in Mumbai and earlier a partner with MSO Hathway Cable, has come unstuck. Siticable and Space Vision had agreed to set up a joint venture company giving the Rupert Murdoch-Subhash Chandra network a major foothold in the city.

At that stage, senior Siticable officials agreed that a deal had more or less been done but were keeping their fingers crossed that it would fructify. Siticable had however taken off Hathway produced programmes from the cable TV network and replaced with its own channels such as SitiCinema, Siti Hulchul, among other programmes.

Siticable had apparently got support from three Space Vision partners with another one of them holding out. The quartet owned 20% of the network with the rest being with Hathway.

The deal did not materialise as Hathway - owned by the Rajan Raheja group - took back possession of the Space Vision headend with assistance from goons and it also struck a new agreement with its promoters agreeing to all their demands. Net result: Siticable was left in the lurch.