"They thought it would be a pay channel and subscribers may not pay the fee for it," said a senior official of Modi Entertainment Newtwork (MEN), the distributor for B4U, and added, "Ultimately, B4U's chief distribution officer, Mr Debasish Dey, had to give written assurances to cable operators that the channel would not be made a pay channel in the near future.However, according to sources, the B4U management will make it a pay channel in March 2001.

According to Mr Shouvik Chatterjee, area manager, distribution, east, the two multi-system operators - RPG Netcom and Zee Telefilms' cable and convergence arms Siti Cables - started beaming the channel shortly after a meeting with the B4U people.

However, the operators of RPG Netcom and Siti's Purbi control room decided to show the channel from October 20, while Siti's two other control rooms, Purbalay and Calcom, started it the following day.

"We are soon going to launch a movie channel called B4U Movie, which will show only Bollywood blockbusters round-the-clock, and we will of course make necessary changes in the movie section of the B4U entertainment channel," Mr Chatterjee said.

The B4U Movie channel is the first digital Indian channel launched worldwide in 1999. It is also the first Indian movie channel overseas. It is already the most popular Indian movie channel internationally and is seen in over 50 countries including the UK, the USA and countries in North Africa and Europe. The channel's strength has been its library of Indian movies, its very good packaging and digital delivery ensuring high quality, said company sources.