The Hindu Business Line : New look for Siticable as it expands digital cable network

New Delhi, April 30 Wire and Wireless’ Siticable network will be strengthening its brand identity and investing significantly in a revitalising exercise to support its roll-out of digital cable television. According to sources, the company is spending Rs 50 crore on a marketing exercise that will take Siti Digital Cable Television to fifty cities this year.

Declining to confirm investment figures, Mr Deepak Chandnani, CEO, Wire and Wireless, said, “We are ramping-up on several fronts, not just for the brand, but also to build call centres and expand distribution, including our digital cable network.”.

The company is adding two more headends to its existing five digital headends in Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore and Ludhiana. Its Headend in the Sky (HITS) service is also expected to be rolled out soon. The satellite-based digital television platform is to help it expand its digital network faster.

On offer

Siticable’s digital cable TV will offer electronic programme guides, parental lock, and value-added services like video on demand. “We are competing with DTH to get into the consumer’s mind for quality of service and not just product and pricing,” said Mr Chandnani. “It is not about whether our services and product is cheaper or better, but the value for money that we will be offering,” he added.

The company is also in talks with broadcasters of niche channels.

As Siticable goes from being a B2B player in an analogue environment to serving consumers directly in a digital environment — where consumers will be able to interact directly with the multi system operator — it needs to strengthen its brand. The aim is to create a brand image that is young, trustworthy and technologically advanced; the target audience is the family in the middle income group with the prime focus being the lady of the house and kids, said the company.

Services and its Set Top Boxes (STB) are being subsidised significantly under the various schemes offered in non-CAS areas, with options for both a rental and outright purchase of STBs. Betting on the digital opportunity, the company says it will do its best to retain cable consumers who may consider DTH, and migrate them to digital.

Brand Campaign

A 360-degree campaign unveiling its new logo will bring its different services, including broadband, under the Siti brand name. While basic cable television will be sold under Siti Network, digital television will sell under Siti Digital Cable Television and its local channel will be called Siti Local.

The cable multi system operator, which reaches 43 cities, plans to continue working with its 4,000 Local Cable Operators’ network. According to Mr Chandnani, their familiarity with consumers — that lets them call on operators to fix problems at short notice — and collection of subscriptions that they undertake, makes them irreplaceable, and that fact is always ignored in the debate over the role of the last mile operator.