(5 May 2008 2:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Wire & Wireless India Ltd (WWIL) is setting the pace for its Headend-In-The-Sky (HITS) launch. The Zee group's demerged cable company has roped in Akhtar Jawed to head the HITS project.

Jawed moves in from Star India where he was senior vice president of distribution. "I have joined WWIL as executive vice president and will be business head of the HITS project," Jawed tells Indiantelevision.com.

WWIL is the only multi-system operator (MSO) which has a HITS licence. The government is preparing to come up with a HITS policy and other MSOs are keen to enter this space as it will give their cable TV operations a national presence through satellite. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India believes that HITS will push digitalisation in the country and has recommended a 74 per cent foreign holding cap for such operators. The current FDI limit on cable TV is 49 per cent.

Jawed was in Star India for almost 14 years, joining the company in 1994 to be part of the distribution team which would start selling Star Movies as the first pay channel in the country.