The Hindu Business Line : Set-top box yet to get on top in Chennai

MORE than a fortnight after the introduction of the conditional access system (CAS) in Chennai, less than one per cent of the city's cable & satellite (C&S) households has opted for set-top boxes — gadgets necessary to access the encrypted pay channels.

According to industry estimates, the city's multi-system operators (MSOs) — the Sun Network-controlled SCV and Hathway — have together sold or rented out between 8,000 and 9,000 set-top boxes in a market of about 12 lakh C&S households. This also means that the MSOs have idle stock of over 1.5 lakh set-top boxes.

Hathway's rental schemes have helped it distribute over 5,000 `boxes' but its outright purchase scheme has come a cropper, with sales yet to touch even the three-digit mark. And in a move to boost its sales numbers, Hathway has introduced an instalment purchase scheme involving an upfront payment of Rs 1,000 and 12 monthly instalments of Rs 222 each, said its Deputy General Manager, Mr K. S. Suresh Kumar.

SCV, on the other hand, has reportedly sold between 3,000 and 4,000 set-top boxes.

In a city where the set-top box demand was expected to be lukewarm, with a majority content to watch the popular free-to-air Tamil channels, the industry has been surprised by an equally indifferent response from the seemingly upmarket areas.

In the Boat Club area, for instance, out of over 1,000 C&S homes, only about 15 have opted for the set-top box, said Mr Dayanidhi Maran, SCV's CEO.

SCV, he said, doesn't expect a big increase in demand unless a major event, say a cricket series, gets telecast in a pay channel. The MSO, which had offered pay channels free for September for all its set-top box buyers, is likely to introduce some more schemes shortly, he added.

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