Work for the Rs 40-lakh fibre optic project will start from mid-July, said Atul Saraf, founding member of Seven Star. The Mumbai-based Sterlite Industries will supply the equipment and material for the project.

Seven Star, which is the first MSO in the country to introduce the addressable set of boxes, is also planning to bring three more channels under the system. The new channels are Paramount (a movie channel), TMC (a comedy channel) and History Channel by the month-end. "We have already signed up with the companies," said Saraf.

The MSO already has 12 channels under the addressable system. Seven Star started with four channels -- Channel V International, Fashion TV, Max Movies and Hindi Premium Channel -- towards the end of 1997. The other channels are Fox News,Hollywood, Kermit, Hallmark, Animal Planet, Super Movies, America Plus and UK TV.

Seven Star is offering three packages: For seven channels, subscribers have to pay an annual fee of Rs 900 while nine channels cost Rs 1,100. For 12 channels, subscribers have to pay Rs 1,500.

A subscriber will also have to bear the cost of a decoder, which costs Rs 4,150. Seven Star has tied up with AEGIES, part of the US-based AG Sigma Group. The set of boxes work as converters and can accommodate 67 channels. These boxes have child lock, cable lock and remote control facilities.

The network has supplied around 1,000 decoders. Saraf claims to have between 3-5 per cent of the network's connectivity hooked on to the addressable system. "Though we started the addressable system towards the end of 1997, the practical supply of decoders picked up six months back. We hope the demand for decoders," said Saraf.

How does the addressable system work? Subscribers can select their pay channels and if the subscriber fails to payup, the cable operator can switch off the service.

The MSO has to have an encoder-decoder at its head-end and investments have to be made towards channel modulator, channel software controlled by a computer and satellite decoders. The estimated cost: Rs 4 lakh per channel.What advantage does the addressable system give to an operator? Said Saraf, "because of the addressable decoders, we can fight pay channels. We can pass on the price increase to our subscribers. And subscribers can select their channels."The second advantage: Cable operators will stay with the MSO as they have invested in the decoders. "Addressability is a marriage without divorce. The cable operator can't change allegiance to another MSO as it has already installed the decoders to its subscribers," said Saraf.

Seven Star offers 67 channels -- 55 channels in the basic tier and 12 channels through the addressable system. Sources said the MSO has signed exclusive deals with Rupert Murdoch-owned NewsCorp to receive Fox News and Channel VInternational. Seven Star has also signed up directly with other companies to get some of the exclusive channels into the country.