The entire business operations will be on a revenue-sharing basis, said Vatsa Entertainment chief executive officer Ravi Burman. He, however, refused to disclose details of the financial arrangement.

As a first step towards promoting the music channel, INCablenet has asked its cable operators to carry Vatsa Music on the "first 20 channel bands" all over the country. The channel will, thus, be available on the network's main band.

"It will be a preferred carriage on the Hinduja network. This will improve the visibility of our channel," said Burman.

Sources said Vatsa is already available in all but three of the head-ends of INCablenet in Mumbai. The channel will be put up in the remaining head-ends in a couple ofdays.

Incidentally, the three former directors of IndusInd who broke away from the Hindujas -- Jagjit Kohli, Yogesh Radhakrishnan and Yogesh Shah -- floated ETN (earlier ATN), a 24-hour music channel. INCablenet, sources said, has asked its operators to drop the channel.

Vatsa TV has also tied up with IN Network for sourcing news and movie-based programming. IN will provide an half-hour news capsule every day from September, Burman said. The uplinking will be done live from Mumbai. Before that, Vatsa will start an online news headline scroll on the channel. The content will be provided by IN Network, for which it is investing in building the infrastructure.

IN Network will also provide an half-hour movie-based programme every week for the music channel. "Depending on its success, we will build it up," said Burman.

Vatsa and IndusInd Media have also entered into an alliance to air a monthly blockbuster on the music channel. CVO, the cable movie channel, has acquired satellite and cable rights ofseveral movies. "We plan to start in September and then build up for a more frequent screening, if successful," said Burman.

IN Network will look after the sales and marketing of the `tied-up' programmes. Said Burman, "the strategic alliance will take advantage of the synergistic capabilities of both the companies. IN Network has software outlets on cable. Now they will have a satellite reach. We will, in turn, get an uplift on the overall quality of our software."

Vatsa plans to convert the channel from analogue to the digital mode by the end of this month. "This will provide space to launch more channels. We are planning to launch a news channel," said Burman.

Vatsa Music, a 24-hour non-stop music channel, was launched early this year. But its growth has been stunted. With the Hinduja-network agreeing to support the channel, Vatsa Music would be assured of a certain reach and visibility. INCablenet claims to reach out to 3 million homes in nine cities.