Digicable plans to set up 500-channel head-end

Digicable, the ountry’s leading multi-system operator (MSO), is setting up a 500-channel head-end in India, in view of the mandatory digitisation of cable distribution from July 1.

"We are in the process of setting up a 500 channels on-land headend in the country. We will be fourth in the world after Singapore, Germany and the USA and first in the country to do so," Digicable vice president Amit Nag told PTI. He said the 500 channels headend could cost anywhere between Rs 10 crore and Rs 15 crore.

Head-end facilitates receiving TV signals for processing and distribution over the cable. Nag claimed that the choice of channels to consumers from new project of head-end will be much higher than Direct to Home operators as delivery of channels through transponders have limitations.

The project will offer huge saving to Digicable in distribution capex as the new digital headend will be installed in a single place, possibly in Mumbai. Singals from the head-end will be pumped through fibre optic cables to other cities in the country. Digicable has around 28,000 km of fibre optic network in the country.

Currently, MSOs have head-end or channel aggregators in all the cities or states they have operations in, but the new head-end will do away with that concept.