The trio has floated a company, Win Cable, and acquired a head-end at Bandra in the western suburb of Mumbai a couple of days back. Bharat Harwane, who was a major distributor of INCablenet in the Bandra area where the Hindujas have around 12,000 direct points, has joined the Kohli group. After parting from the Hindujas, he had started a head-end.

Win Cable will launch four new head-ends in Mumbai within two weeks, Kohli told The Financial Express. The target: 10 head-ends in Mumbai within a month. "We will spread out into the metros of the country after a month," Kohli said.

The company has tied up with a financial partner. Though Kohli declined to give the name of his partner, he said it is a major Indian company.The battle between the Hindujas and the trio is expected to worsen asWin Cable's initial focus will be to attack the Hinduja-owned network. Said Kohli, "we will start our head-ends in the areas covered by INCablenet. We expect some of their distributors to migrate to us."

Will Win Cable succeed? "By calling it Win, does not mean that they will win. They will need financial resources," said a senior official in INCablenet.

Kohli and his partners had fallen out with the Hindujas recently over the fight for equity stake. "After Ram Punjabi's (one of our partners) death, we could not agree on the equity amount to support the deceased's family," Kohli alleged.

The Hindujas have already eased out three of their INCablenet distributors as they were close to the trio. Win Cable hopes to win them over and then aim at the other Hinduja distributors.

Their bait: An attractive package, said Kohli, which would include the best of InCablenet and SitiCable. The franchisees will be given a 15 per cent share of the value-added services which Win Cable is launching. "The arrangementwill differ from area to area. But our schemes will be financially lucrative," said Kohli.

Kohli's second bait: To provide internet services almost immediately. He has tied up with the Chennai-based Sterling Group to provide value-added services. Sterling has already picked up a 40 per cent stake in Entertainment Television Network (ETN), the 24-hour music channel run by the trio.

Win Cable will introduce the 750 MHz technology with fibre backbone while most of the major cable networks are of 550 MHz. Kohli said he will launch with 75 channels. While other networks are offering 67 channels, Win Cable can accommodate 90 channels.

Win Cable is also introducing the addressable set-top boxes with the help of Sterling. These will be MPEG-2 (Motion Picture Expert Group) digital boxes. The advantage: More channels and digital and interactive facilities.

The company will offer a bouquet of 20-25 channels under the addressable system. They will be premium movie, international and general entertainmentchannels, Kohli said. He, however, refused to divulge the names of the channels. "We have already signed up with several channels. And we are in the process of signing up withe some more," he added.

Win Cable is also lining up a city-specific channel for Mumbai. The name? "We haven't finalised it yet. But it will be related to Win Cable. We will be promoting that brand," Kohli said.