Acquisition over, Zee group?s SitiCable is now drawing up its list of things to do for the Calcutta market. ?The first step is to start the process of digitisation,? says SitiCable head Jawahar Goel.

The multi-system operator (MSO) with a national presence had picked up the entire stake of the RPG Enterprises in Indian Cable Net, the city?s largest MSO, in a sudden move that stunned the industry two weeks ago.

Digitisation, or converting the channel distribution mode to digital through a headend, would help SitiCable offer its consumers more channels and better transmission quality.

?A large number of channels has debuted of late,? says a market analyst. ?With even more to follow in the coming months, it is necessary for MSOs to upgrade their networks to accommodate them.? In an analogue system, each channel occupies around seven MHz whereas in a digital system it takes up only 0.7 MHz of space. This allows a digital network to offer around 880 channels compared to the analogue?s 110.

?We will also consolidate our position in Calcutta as the largest MSO. That will need considerable investment which smaller MSOs would not be able to make,? Goel hopes.

SitiCable recently converted its cable channel ? also called SitiCable ? into a satellite one. ?The brand name was already there. We were transporting the channel through tape and that was proving to be logistically expensive and even delaying transmission sometimes,? explains Goel.

?Besides, there are around 70,000 cable channels in the country. The government is concerned about some and is likely to bring in regulation, particularly against the ones beaming astrology shows or resorting to piracy. We turned SitiCable satellite to safeguard against that,? he adds.

Despite Goel?s big plans, all is not well on the ground. Around 150 cable operators under Indian Cable Net ? including some planning to move out and set up operations of their own ? are to meet the MSO officials on Wednesday to sort out ?thorny? issues.

?Viewers only get to see the channels that have paid placement fee to MSOs,? complains Mrinal Chatterjee, on behalf of the RPG Netcom franchise operators.

?We pay Rs 19 as service charge to SitiCable but Rs 33 to Indian Cable Net. Zee takes Rs 41 for its bouquet from SitiCable and Rs 55 from others. There has to be a parity in all this,? Chatterjee adds.