SetMax, which went pay on July 15, will have a three-tiered cost structure. For cable operators having just 3,000 points, the price is fixed at Rs 8 per subscriber. Operators with connectivity ranging between 3,000 to 7,000, the cost is Rs 5.25. The price is lower at Rs 4.50 per subscriber for those having more than 10,000 points. Sources said Sony would introduce a new slab a few months later.

The price would be Rs 4.10 per subscriber for those operators with 7,000 to 10,000 points. SetMax will telecast live the Asia XI and Rest of the World XI one-dayer cricket contest at the Oval, London, on July 29, 2000. The event will be televised by Trans World International, and telecast exclusively on the channel. While Sachin Tendulkar will captain the Asian team, Alec Stewart will lead the Rest of the World side. Surrey Cricket Club, the body which owns the Oval Cricket ground, is organising this game to raise funds to repair certain parts of the ground and build new club house facilities.

Sony will not package the pay channels which it distributes. "Each of our channels will be individually priced," says a senior official in Sony. Sony distributes three pay channels: AXN, SetMax and CNBC. Sony claims Max reaches out to 10 million homes. Sony has signed up with leading cable operators like INCablenet and SitiCable for carrying its pay channel, SetMax. With lack of telecast rights to big cricket matches, some cable operators say they may drop the channel. But as the channel spurts into prominence sporadically based on the strong movies or cricket or events it airs, operators will find it hard to neglect the channel.