The Hindu Business Line : Sun TV to bring down set-top box price in Chennai market

SUN TV has decided to offer set-top boxes, decoders to access pay channels, at rates below Rs 3,000, cheaper by at least about Rs 1,500 to existing prices.

The media house, whose multi-system operator arm SCV will implement the offer from April 1, believes the move will enthuse a market that has remained lacklustre ever since the conditional access system (CAS) was implemented in Chennai.

"We are going to see a huge offtake in set-top boxes," said Mr Kalanithi Maran, Chairman & Managing Director, Sun TV, in an interview to Business Line. The offtake till now has only been about 20,000 sets, he said.

"With the recent Budget and reduction in customs duty, the box price is going to crash. Worldwide, the price has come down. Plus, the dollar has fallen," he said.

Sun TV has renegotiated with set-top box manufacturers abroad, from whom it imports, to bring the price down.

One of the focus areas for the organisation this year will be its foray into newspapers. Mr Maran said, "We will come out with the newspaper shortly. Most probably, you should see us doing something by June. Whether it's English or Tamil or Telugu is a decision we have to take."

The media house is set to launch a 24-hour Telugu music channel, Aditya, as well as its first channel outside the four Southern States: Surjo in Bengali. There are channels such as ETV, Alpha, Tara, ATN and DD Bangla catering to the Bengali audience.

Mr Maran said he had thought about a Bengali channel a long while ago but was concerned about possible "Hindi overflow." That is, a Hindi blockbuster movie, for instance, attracts a viewer there more than a Bengali one. "That overflow doesn't happen in the South."

But in the last few years, new players have helped the market to emerge. Soaps and movies will spearhead Sun's strategy in Bengal, a strategy it has implemented successfully in the Southern markets.

To a question whether Sun TV plans to go public , he said, "We had plans long ago to go for an IPO but the dotcom bubble burst. Now I have my reservations about such a move. Worldwide, public companies are becoming private. Right now, I don't see a necessity. Our internal reserves are good enough to take care of our future plans."

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