MUMBAI: The 14th edition of Scat which positions itself as South Asia's largest tradeshow of the Indian satellite and cable TV industry kicks off tomorrow at the World Trade Centre in Mumbai.

The event which runs from 25 - 27 October 2005 will see different television technologies and hardware on display. Over 10,000 cable TV professionals are expected to attend the event.

Around 80 companies from India, America, Germany, Korea and China will display their product lines. Trai chairperson Pradip Baijal will inaugurate Scat 2005 tomorrow at 10:30 am. Trai will also have an open house interactive session on 26 October 2005 at 12:30 pm. Questions from the media and the public on the cable and satellite industry will be fielded by Trai representatives.

At the event DD Mumbai will be demonstrating Digital Terrestial Transmissions (DTT) for the DD News Channel. These transmissions permit crystal clear reception of Doordarshan even in moving vehicles such as cars, trains and buses throughout Mumbai. The service will be formally launched in January 2006.

Several stalls at the show will be demonstrating low cost digital headends, implemented using transmodulators. Earlier headends cost Rs. 20 million. Now with transmodulators they cost around Rs. 100,000. Scat says that this new technology will permit even medium and small size cable networks to provide digital cable TV, capable of offering more than 1000 channels, using digital set top boxes. These upgrades will provide Indian viewers with enhanced facilities in the immediate future.

At the event some stalls will also demonstrate set top boxes (STBs) for free to air (FTA) television. Last year around three million FTA STBs were sold in the country.