According to Mr V Shekar, senior vice-president of BPL, the company is currently studying the market forecast for Internet on TV, including response to the existing models, considering its limitations. As it is not possible to download and store information received on Web TV currently and the picture-resolution is not very good on it, the company is studying the number of takers the product is likely to have, he said. Though the company had recently soft-launched the product, it is yet to launch it commercially.

Samsung is the only brand which is currently selling set-top boxes for Internet reception on TV, priced at Rs 6,999.

The company plans to unveil its set-top box for digital reception to be ready in time, when the metros in the country will begin shifting from ground transmission to digital transmission next year. However, it is yet to decide on the pricing of the two products, said Mr Shekar. When launched, the two products would be either sold separately or bundled with conventional TVs, he said.

Meanwhile, the company is also planning to come out with new generation web TVs and digital TVs, before DTH (Direct-To-Home) transmission starts by mid-2002. It has decided to be present in the segment even though it does not expect a mass market for these high-priced products. While the Web TV is expected to be priced at least 25 per cent higher than the conventional TV, the digital receiver priced at $6000, does not have many takers even in the US, said Mr Shekar.

The Rs 2000-crore company is currently concentrating on expanding the market for flat televisions in India, with new product offerings in the segment, including its Matrix range of flat TVs. It is planning to spend around 15 per cent of its advertising budget of around Rs 60 crore for the current year to promote flat TVs. The company is the leader in CTV market, estimated at around Rs 6000 crore at present, with a market share close to 22 per cent.