Siti Cable orders rescue TVSE

Chennai: The city-based computer peripherals manufacturer TVS Electronics Limited (TVSE) has started supplies of direct to home (DTH) set top boxes to Siti Cable which is part of the Essel group. Another Essel outfit, New Era Entertainment Network Limited, offers DTH service in the country under the brand Dish TV. Dish TV is growing at the rate of around 15,000 subscribers per month.

Speaking about the order, Gopal Srinivasan, director, TVS Electronics said, "We hope to sell around 75,000 boxes over the next five months and earn a revenue of Rs20 crore."

The order comes as a great relief to TVS Electronics, which is laden with huge pile-up of cable TV set top box components. The company had tied up with a Mumbai-based multi-system operator (MSO), Broadband Pacenet India, to cash in on the conditional access system (CAS) regime. However, as the government decided to back out from implementing the CAS regime TVS Electronics was left with a huge inventory.

According to officials, as the majority of the components for DTH and cable TV set top boxes were common, it was decided to roll out the former after tying up with Dish TV.

"We have invested Rs4 crore in setting up the new 50,000 units per month facility," remarks Srinivasan.

From 100 per cent imported components currently, TVS Electronics plans to have a local component content of 60 per cent shortly.