"The company is holding discussions with Doordarshan for a Rs 600-crore DTT project on "Build-operate-transfer" basis," promoter of SP Enterprises Ltd Siddharth Ray, which holds 76 per cent stake in ICAN, said.

The current equity structure of the company has 76 per cent stake with SP Enterprises, and telecom major Hutchison and Advent TV of Singapore have a combined holding of 24 per cent.In Advent TV, in turn, Media baron Kerry Packar holds 33 per cent stake.

Elaborating on the upcoming plans, Mr Ray said that the proposed project will allow greater and direct connectivity to the viewer and eliminating the need for satellite dish antennas, as required in case of DTH platform.The DTT platform like DTH, would do away with intermediaries like cable operators too.

Mr Ray said that the project, which would begin only by middle of 2001, following government's nod, would see simultaneous roll out in Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Madras by mid 2002. Mr Ray said that the company was looking at rolling out the system in Delhi and Mumbai in the first quarter of 2002, with Calcutta and Chennai going live by the second quarter of next year. Of the estimated project cost of Rs 600 crore for the entire project, about Rs 200 crore would be directly channelised for broadcasting infrastructure while the balance would be required for roll out operations among others.

(PTI)