The Subhash Chandra-promoted Siti Cable has received the first consignment of set-top boxes.

According to industry sources, the consignment, the first to arrive in the country, is awaiting clearance from Broadcasters Engineers Consultancy India Ltd.

The spokesperson for the Essel Group said: "Our first consignment has already arrived and awaiting inspection by BECIL officials. Siti Cable is awaiting approval for its pricing from the government and as soon as it is cleared, deployment will commence."

Sources also said this was part of the two million set-top boxes the company had ordered for rolling out the conditional access system.

Meanwhile, Zee Turner Ltd, the satellite channel distribution company partly owned by Chandra, today announced a tie-up with the National Institute of Sales to offer a training programme called "smart sellers" to cable operators on educating and informing consumers about the advantages of the new system.

The training programme from June 18 to July 10 will be conducted in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

"Cable operators have always been an integral part of our business and are our brand ambassadors. We felt the need to organise the training programme for cable operators since CAS is set to redefine their role," Zee Turner CEO Sunil Khanna said.

Zee Turner expects the "smart sellers" programme to cover 2,000 cable operators. Apart from selling skills, the programme will impart training on technical details of set-top boxes and crisis management.

As per the schemes offered by Siti Cable, if a consumer is renting a set-top box, he pays a security deposit of Rs 2,500 and 60 paise per day as rental. To buy a set-top box, he needs to pay Rs 2,750.