Rajan Raheja promoted Hathway Cable & Datacom, a cable TV network in which Star India has a 26 per cent stake, will soon be launching C- Bangalore, a local channel for the city of Bangalore.Though officials would not put a definite date for the launch, if all goes according to plan, C- Bangalore is expected to star airing before the end of next week. The channel, to be broadcast through Hathway?s cable network, will be exclusive to subscribers in the city. Hathway claims a strong presence in Bangalore with a substantial market share in the city.

Programmingwise, the channel?s main focus will be on local & regional content. Its 16 hours of programming daily will have three movies daily in Tamil, Kannada and Hindi supplied by Hathway‘s own library. C-Bangalore also plans to have live programmes like talk shows & music shows. These will be interactive in nature with the viewer getting to put forth his requests and questions online.

Channel telecast will be from Hathway?s headend located at Shree Complex, St. John?s Road in Bangalore. This state of the art head end went operational in August 2001, officials say. The headend provides more than 75 channels to the entire city with a single headend infrastructure backed with a fiber optic ring.

Hathway also provides broadband internet (Hathway Cable Internet) through its network and has more than 1,000 cable Internet subscribers in the city. The service is being made available to corporate houses, educational institutes, cyber cafes, SOHOs & residences. Currently Hathway?s Internet service is available in Koramangla, Fraser Town, MG Road, Cook Town, Ulsoor, Basavangudi, Jayanagar, & Banashankari areas of Bangalore.